All good things must come to an end. Rafael Nadal’s 17-match win streak on clay was halted on Friday by Dominic Thiem at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, but the Spaniard isn’t hearing alarm bells ringing.

“It’s normal that one day you don’t feel perfect. If you are unlucky on that day, the opponent plays unbelievable,” said Nadal. “So tomorrow, I will be in Mallorca fishing or playing golf or doing another thing. That’s it.”

After playing nearly flawless tennis to win three straight titles in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, the backlog of matches caught up to Nadal and he wasn’t able to recover from a comparatively off day against Thiem. He acknowledged that the Austrian “was better than me this afternoon,” but quickly shot down speculation that he was conserving energy in pursuit of a 10^th title at Roland Garros.

“I never take Monte-Carlo, Barcelona or Rome like preparation,” said Nadal. “Every tournament is so emotional for me. Every tournament is so important. Every tournament by itself is important enough to not consider it like preparation for the other.

“It’s obvious that I did not play my best match,” he added. “I have been playing a lot. Madrid and Rome, back-to-back, after playing Barcelona and Monte-Carlo back-to-back, so it’s not easy after playing almost every day for the past four weeks.”

Although Nadal was disappointed to not lift the winner’s trophy in Rome for an eighth time, he said he couldn’t have asked for better preparation heading to Paris. Despite the loss to Thiem, his current form makes him the on-paper favourite heading into the second Grand Slam of the year.

“I’m very happy with how I played during these four weeks and now remains Roland Garros,” said Nadal. “I’m going to rest a little bit. I think I deserve that. I’m going to start preparing on Monday or Tuesday for Roland Garros and try to have the best preparation possible.”

A 45 minute drive north of Stuttgart into the sprawling German countryside will lead you to the TC Heilbronn am Trappensee, a tennis club founded in 1892. Over a century has passed but the 600-member club is heaped in tradition in the tranquil rural surroundings.

This week, the site hosts the €64,000 ATP Challenger Tour event called the Neckarcup, which in 2017 is celebrating a fourth edition. It is not only the scenery that makes the Neckarcup such a special event. The tournament is determined to keep evolving and boasts an indoor tennis centre as well as floodlit courts to enable the introduction of night matches.

Casper Ruud, into the quarter-finals so far this week, hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow #NextGenATP player Alexander Zverev, champion here in 2015, and he’s been highly impressed by the tournament’s complex. “The tournament is really nice, with a great organisation,” said Ruud. “It’s not the biggest city here (Helibronn), but that’s not a bad thing as the club is great and you can focus more on the tournament. I think German clubs are in general very good and they always have good courts and decent food at the site. The weather has been great here too, so not much to complain about.”

Tournament Director Metehan Cebeci is proud of what has been achieved thus far in four years, but he is hungry to see the Neckarcup evolve and grow. Here are Cebeci’s thoughts on the development of his tournament and the ATP Challenger Tour as a whole…

What has changed since the opening of the Neckarcup in 2014 and how has the tournament evolved?
I am very happy with the development of my tournament. Of course, it has been a lot of work, but the Neckarcup did not come about from a night of work. I have had time to plan the tournament. I have benefited from my experience in ITF youth tournaments. From the beginning, it was my ambition to give the professionals the greatest possible comfort. Secondly, I have looked at the interests of the ATP, the spectators in the stands, and finally, my requirements as Tournament Director. For example, new to this year, we will play night sessions for the first time thanks to a floodlight system.

How did you manage to organise a Challenger in Heilbronn?
As a former player and later a school tennis coach, it has always been my goal to create a tournament of this magnitude. It was important for me to find a suitable date for this. Since Germany is predominantly a clay place, I definitely wanted to organise an event on the dirt, ideally before the French Open. Fortunately, that worked.

What are your thoughts on the growth of Challenger events in Germany?
The attention has grown, but it could be even better. Of course, it is also down to the tournament organisers, as they promote their tournament. For the ATP, the importance of the Challenger Tour has increased. This means that the gap between the Challengers and the ATP World Tour is not as big as it was before. There are great players here who can compete with the best.

What are your goals for this event?
We want to continue to grow. I would like to expand the Challenger category and expand the Neckarcup to an €85,000 or €100,000 event. We need financial support in the long term. Until now I am doing everything I can and I really want this tournament to succeed, no matter how much effort and stress. The smile of the players and the joy I see at the end of the day compensates me for everything.

Are there other tournaments that you have learned from?
The tournament directors of the ATP Challenger Tour events in Germany have a strong exchange amongst ourselves. We visit our events and meet at least once a year. I also look at how others raise their tournaments.