Before competing in the 47th grand-slam event of his career at the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal has admitted that he has been playing through chronic pain for some time.
Nadal’s physical style of play has taken its toll on his body in recent years, the 30-year-old Spaniard suffering from injuries to his wrists and knees. His 2016 season was brought to an early end in October in an attempt to recover from his latest wrist problem. Asked yesterday if he was finally pain-free after his two-month break, Nadal replied: “I am not injured, no. But pain-free is a long time ago.”
Nadal has struggled to make an impact at grand-slam events in the past year and a half, failing to progress past the last-16 in the past five that he has played. His 14th and most recent major title was at the French Open in 2014.
Many feel his only chance of adding to that tally will come on the clay courts of Paris in the summer, but Nadal insists he would not be in Melbourne if he did not believe he was still a contender.
“I am here, I am enjoying it,” Nadal said. “If I don’t believe that I can be competitive, and when I mean competitive, it is fighting for the things that I fought for during the last ten years, I will be probably playing golf or fishing at home.”
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The hard courts have been particularly punishing on Nadal’s body, but he still believes that he is capable of winning seven best-of-five-set matches over the next fortnight.
“The only thing that I can say is I am practising well,” Nadal said.
“I am enjoying every practice. I feel myself ready for the competition. If I am able to compete well from the beginning, you never know what can happen.”
With Nadal at No 9 in the world rankings and arguably past his peak as he fails to reach his former levels of consistency, it is natural that some will wonder how long he will continue playing. A signal of intent, though, that he is not close to retirement came during the off-season when he added Carlos Moya, his good friend and former world No 1 to his coaching team.
“I know him very well,” Nadal said. “I know he wants the best for me.
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“He knows my personality, he knows my game, too. It could be a good help for me and at the same time for the team.”
Novak Djokovic, the six-times Australian Open champion, will attempt to negotiate a testing first-round match against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who failed to take one of five match points against the former world No 1 in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open in Doha last week.
“In a given day, if things go right, he can beat anybody on any surface,” Djokovic said.
“A lot depends, of course, on how I feel, how he feels. But I’m expecting a tough one, there’s no doubt about it.”