Rafael Nadal confident he will be 100 per cent ready for Australian Open

ATP Tour

Shahida Jacobs
December 28, 2018

He is still taking things step by step, but Rafael Nadal is positive that he will be fighting fit when the Australian Open gets underway.

Nadal hasn’t played competitive tennis since he retired from his US Open semi-final match against Juan Martin del Potro at the beginning of September.

He will make his comeback at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi this weekend and he was asked about his recovery ahead of his appearance.

“Good, going step by step. I am not making steps back, just steps forward all the time, taking care of my body after a while without having a chance to be on court and trying to do things slowly,” he said.

“It’s important for me to protect the body and to avoid tough circumstances. I know I have time to be ready for Melbourne at 100 per cent.”

Of course being injured and staging a comeback is nothing new for the 17-time Grand Slam winner and he is certainly drawing on experience in terms of dealing with the latest setback.

“After the second part of the year, have been tough last year in terms of injuries but that happens and that’s part of my tennis career too,” he added.

“Just try to stay calm, try to work the right way and when I’m back I know things are not easy, I know at the beginning you always have tough feelings and pains in the body that normally you don’t have.

“But I have experience in all of this and try to be ready for the everyday practices and when (I) arrive (at) the matches I don’t have to ask myself big things at the beginning, just trying to be positive with every improvement and that way normally you get the right point.”