World No.1 Rafael Nadal is maintaining a positive outlook ahead of next week’s Australian Open after losing in straight sets to Richard Gasquet at the Kooyong Classic.
Suffering a delay to the start of his 2018 season due to a troublesome knee injury, it was inevitable that the Spaniard would be rusty during his first match of the new year. Which he lost 6-4, 7-5, to world No.31 Gasquet.
Despite the later than usual start, Nadal is confident that he will be ready in time for the Australian Open. Which will start on Monday. The Spaniard hasn’t played on the ATP Tour since withdrawing from the ATP Finals last November. He was set to play events in Abu Dhabi and Brisbane, but pulled out of both of them. Forcing him in a race against time ahead of the first grand slam of the year.
“I’m very happy to be back in Australia,” said Nadal. “I had a heavy year in 2017 and I started my preparation later than usual.
“But I’ve arrived in plenty of time. It’s great to get the feeling once again of playing a match.
“This was a good test for me after some good training, that’s the most important thing.”
A runner-up to Roger Federer in Melbourne last year, the top seed will be hoping for another deep run. He currently leads second placed Federer by 995 points in the ATP Emirates rankings, but his lead could be in jeopardy with a early loss at the Australian Open.
Providing an update on the state of his knee, Nadal has eased fears. Stating that he is fit and ready to compete regardless of his problematic start to 2018.
“The knee is fine,” Nadal said with confidence. “I’m here.
“If I was not feeling good I would not be here, so that’s good news.
“I’ll train hard over the next few days for the Australian Open, I will be ready.”
Next up for Nadal will be the Tie Break Tens extravaganza on Wednesday. A winner-takes-all $250,000 exhibition tournament where matches are the first player to get to 10 points. He will be playing in the tournament along with Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka, who are also on the comeback from injury. It will take place at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.
