|
Melbourne is the Slam that the 19-times
champion has found the hardest to win, with his only triumph
coming in 2009 when he overcame Federer in a five-set epic that
left his Swiss rival in floods of tears.
He has reached the final four times in the last decade and lost
on each occasion, twice to Novak Djokovic, including a trouncing
last year, once to Federer and one shock reverse at the hands of
Stan Wawrinka in 2014.
Nadal has previously spoken out against the timing of the
Australian Open so soon after the Christmas break and has often
found himself battling fitness problems as the tournament
approaches.
Familiar knee problems stunted his preparation in 2018 and led
to him withdrawing in agony in the fifth set of a quarter-final
with Marin Cilic.
Last year, he underwent ankle surgery before the tournament,
which made his run to the final without dropping a set all the
more impressive.
This year, though, the world number one appears to be in fine
shape, having spearheaded Spain's victory at the Davis Cup in
November and helped his country into the recent inaugural final
of the ATP Cup where he lost a classic to Djokovic.
Nadal has remained relatively injury-free since recapturing last
year's U.S. Open title, with the only recent setback an
abdominal injury that forced him to withdraw during the Paris
Masters.
"Rafa is in spectacular form and now it's just a question of
maintaining his level," said coach Francis Roig after arriving
in Australia with Nadal ahead of the ATP Cup.
"He is feeling very confident because of how he has been playing
and because his serve is helping him a lot."
Staying in prime shape is crucial to Nadal's chances in
Melbourne where he suffered his heaviest Grand Slam final loss
last year and was left admitting that his defensive game was
unable to counter Djokovic's precision attacks.
He will be emboldened, then, by the ruthless physical shape he
found himself in at the end of the season, which saw him win
eight matches in six days at the Davis Cup as he led Spain to
victory.
Talk of chasing down Federer's 20 Slams will gather pace as each
day passes in Melbourne, although Nadal maintains that drawing
level with the Swiss is not something he obsesses over.
"I make my own path because you can't always be frustrated or
over-ambitious," he told Spanish newspaper AS in December.
"When you do everything you can, you're aren't obliged to do
anything else. At the end of the year I want to be able to say
I've done enough to make things go as well as possible."
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Ian Chadband)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
