Former world number one Rafael Nadal said on Monday he expects “nothing” from himself before his return to the courts next month.
Nadal, 37, has been out with a hip injury since last January but is set to feature at Brisbane in the near year.
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The Spaniard will use the tournament as a warm-up to the Australian Open in Melbourne having slumped to 663rd in the world before starting his final year before his expected retirement.
Nadal
“I think I’m ready and I trust and hope that all goes well and it gives me the opportunity to enjoy myself on the court,” Nadal said in a video on social media.
“I expect from myself to expect nothing.
“To have the ability not to demand myself what I have demanded myself throughout my career,” the 22-time Grand Slam winner added.
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Since being sidelined Nadal has been overtaken in the number of Grand Slam tournaments won by Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, who now has 24 major titles.
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French Open
Nadal will try to return to the highest level in Australia with the aim of competing at the French Open which he has won a record 14 times.
He is in line for a busy final season with the Grand Slams and the Olympic Games, where he won singles gold in Beijing in 2008 and doubles gold in Rio in 2016.
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“I believe I’m in a different moment, situation. I am in an unexplored terrain,” Nadal said.
“I have internalised what I have had throughout my life, which is demand myself the maximum.
“Right now what I really hope is to be able not to do that, to accept things are going to be very difficult at the beginning and give myself the necessary time,” he added.
© Agence France-Presse