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Nadal pulled out of Spain's ATP Cup tie against
Australia on Tuesday with a lower back problem and, despite some
improvement, said he was still far away from the level required
to play at the year's first Grand Slam.
"It's not that I'm in a really bad way, but I'm also not alright
in the sense that I can't play either," Nadal told Spanish
television channel Movistar+.
"I've improved a little but I'm not in a position where I can go
and play a game at full intensity."
Nadal's name was also absent from Spain's ATP Cup tie on Friday
against Greece at Melbourne Park's John Cain Arena with Roberto
Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreno Busta to lead the challenge in
the singles matches for last year's finalists.
The 34-year-old, however, practised for an hour on Thursday
evening at the Rod Laver Arena and his fitness was improving
"little by little, step by step", a source close to Nadal told
Reuters.
Nadal sits level with Roger Federer on 20 Grand Slam titles and,
with the Swiss not taking part in Melbourne after knee surgery,
the Spaniard would have the chance to become the all-time major
record holder in the men's game for the first time.
He insisted, however, that that was not something he was focused
on. "First thing's first, and that's to play the Australian
Open, and if that doesn't go well, the season goes on," he said.
"I've never been obsessed with Grand Slams, truth be told."
(Reporting by Joseph Walker and Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai;
Editing by Ken Ferris)
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