Rafael Nadal intends to go fishing or play golf to help his body recover after seeing his quest for an eighth Internazionali BNL d'Italia title come to an abrupt halt on Friday.

The Spaniard has been in imperious form on clay this year and went into his clash with Dominic Thiem having won his previous 17 matches, dropping just two sets in the process.

Adding to that proved too much as Thiem - who Nadal beat in the Barcelona and Madrid finals - finally got the better of the French Open favourite, the Austrian winning 6-4 6-3.

Nadal acknowledged his young rival had been too good in Rome while revealing he was looking forward to a rest - and maybe some fishing - after a busy couple of weeks.

"It's obvious that I did not play my best match," he told the ATP Tour website.

"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.

"It's normal that one day you don't feel perfect. If you are unlucky on that day, the opponent plays unbelievable. 

"[On Saturday] I will be in Mallorca fishing or playing golf or doing another thing. That's it."

Nadal remains favourite to record a 10th French Open title at Roland Garros later this month and he plans to give his body as much recovery time ahead of 2017's second grand slam.

He added: "I'm going to rest a little bit that I think I deserve, and then I going to start probably Monday [or] Tuesday to prepare for Roland Garros, try to be best preparation possible during that week before. 

"It is important event for me, obviously."