Fresh from making his first hard-court final of the season last week in Beijing, Rafael Nadal has taken a novel route to beginning his Shanghai Rolex Masters campaign – by train. The Spaniard, runner-up here in 2009, will meet big-serving Ivo Karlovic in his first match since falling to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic last week and in a change from the usual jet-setting lifestyle on tour he opted to take the scenic path to China’s largest city.

“Some places (with) beautiful views, and very comfortable,” Nadal said of the journey. “It was the first time.  I wanted to do it last year but I couldn’t, so I did this year. I enjoyed it. If I play Beijing next year, I’m going to repeat the same trip because I like it.”

Currently at No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Race to London, a strong result this week would go a long way to sealing Nadal’s place in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and with few points to defend from the final months of last season he stands to finish an at times difficult year on a positive note.

“I only care about the possibility to finish the season with better feeling than what I had,” he said. “And I am on the way to doing it. I feel the last couple of months I was playing better than what the results say. I lost a couple of tough ones, like in the US Open, like in Cincinnati.  But I’m feeling better in general.

“One of the biggest problems that I had during the whole season, I was not able to control my emotions on court, something that I always had the right control of doing all my career.  The real thing is the last couple of months that is much better.  

“I feel almost under control again. That’s a very important step for me to, first of all, enjoy, and second thing, to have the possibility to practise and to compete at the level that I want.”

Nadal is relishing being able to train injury-free. “The last couple of months I am practising more than what I did last, let’s say, six, seven years,” he said.

Despite leading his ATP FedEx Head2Head with 6ft 11in Karlovic 4-0, the pair has not met since 2011. Nadal will be wary of the inroads the Croatian has made this season. “I expect the first very tough match against Karlovic,” he said. “I didn’t play semi-finals on hard-court until last week, this year. So I go day by day. “I’m happy the way that I am playing. Last week was a very positive week for me, playing better every day.”