Here's why it will be 'almost impossible' for Nadal to win Wimbledon 2017

Fifteen-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal feels that it would be almost impossible for him to repeat his French Open success at the Wimbledon if his troublesome knees react to playing on grass in the way that they have for the last five years.

Nadal, who won his 10th French Open title with a resounding victory over Stan Wawrinka on Sunday, has lost to opponents ranked between No. 100 and No. 144 in his last four appearances at the All England Club.

In his last four appearances at the Wimbledon, he has lost to Lukas Rosol (world No 100) in the second round, to Steve Darcis (No 135) in the first, to Nick Kyrgios (No 144) in the fourth and to Dustin Brown (No 102) in the second.

The current World No. 2, earlier this year, had reached the Australian Open final where he lost to Swiss Maestro Roger Federer in five sets. However, if he wins the Wimbledon title, he will complete a third French-Wimbledon double.

"If I have pain in my knees, then I know from experience that it's almost impossible," The Independent quoted him as saying. "After 2012 what happened with my knees has made it tougher and tougher for me to compete on grass."

The Spaniard had won the French-Wimbledon double in 2008 and 2010 and he is likely to complete a third French-Wimbledon double this time around. He had not dropped a set in those two French Opens as well as he did this year.

The Spaniard has admitted that that, however, it's been quite some time since he played a good Wimbledon.

"I love grass. Everybody knows that. It's a surface that I really enjoyed playing on a lot. I missed playing Wimbledon again [last year], so I hope that my knees will hold up well and that I can have the preparation that I really need and want," he said.

"I need to have strong and powerful legs to play well at Wimbledon. If I don't feel that, then probably my chances are not good. But if I am healthy and I am able to have the right preparation and feel healthy during Wimbledon, then I will probably have my chances to play well," Nadal, who is regarded to as 'Master of Clay', added.

Nadal's incredible form this season means there is also the strong possibility of him replacing Andy Murray at the numero one spot in the ATP Rankings at the end of the year for the first time since 2013.