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No.1 seed Rafael Nadal hopeful of recovery from illness in time for opening round at Australian Open

• By Sam Lienert
• AAP
• January 14, 2011 5:53PM

World No.1 Rafael Nadal is unsure of his readiness to make history at the Australian Open over the next fortnight as illness and rain play havoc with his preparations.

The reigning French Open, Wimbledon and US Open champion can become the first man since Australia's Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam titles at once if he triumphs in the Australian Open.

But Nadal refuses to dwell on the prospect of a "Rafa Slam", instead focusing on fine-tuning his game and recovering from the illness which almost forced him to withdraw from his most recent event in Doha.

"I'm improving every day, hopefully I'm going to be completely recovered for next Monday," Nadal said.

"It's still a little bit (congested), but I don't have fever, I think I need a few more days maybe, but hopefully it's going to be fine."

Melbourne's weather has not helped, restricting Nadal and other players to mostly indoor sessions, which he acknowledged was not ideal.

"The weather doesn't help a lot these days, it's unbelievable, the first time in my life with this weather in Melbourne here," he said.

"There's nothing to do, just wait and practice in indoor courts and that's fine."

The 24-year-old nine-time grand slam-title winner said it was hard to predict how well prepared he would be when he met Brazil's Marcos Daniel in the first round.

"It is important to improve every day a little bit. A lot of times I didn't start a tournament playing my best and finished the tournament playing very, very good," he said.

"Sometimes you start very well, sometimes you don't play that well.

"It's very difficult to say if I'm ready or not ready.

"The only thing I can say is I did good work in the off-season, I did all I can do to be ready here."

He said he did not feel the weight of the grand slam history within his reach.

"Not for me. Everybody asks me this question," Nadal said.

"For me the pressure is the same every tournament and the pressure is my pressure, that I want to play well and do the right things."

Nadal added his withdrawal with a knee injury from last year's quarter-finals was not a motivator either.

"My motivation is this tournament," he said.

"Not because last year I had an injury, not because I have a chance to win the fourth grand slam in a row, my motivation is the Australian Open."

Comments

[revio]

Rafael Nadal était fiévreux la semaine dernière, pensez-vous qu'il est en pleine possession
de ses moyens? 
 
R.F: J'ai beaucoup vu Rafa, à Zurich, Madrid, lors des matches que nous avons joués pour nos fondations, puis à Abou Dhabi. Il allait bien. Mais j'ai vu que son kiné était malade à Abou Dhabi, et
ce n'est jamais bon quand un type qui travaille près de toi est malade. Qu'il ait attrapé quelque chose n'est donc pas une surprise. Mais je suis sûr qu'il va être prêt. 

[reina]

je mets le lien de son interview du jour !


http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/interviews/2011-01-15/201101151295066429065.html

[reina]

hihi! si lloron lit ça....!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anne-Marie]

PS - à propos de rien : l'article de l'Equipe.fr : Nadal : je me sens mieux...In fine, il dit : "mais je me demande sérieusement si les courts rapides ne sont pas meilleurs pour moi
que les courts lents..."

[Anne-Marie]

Tout lui, quoi...