Former world's no.1 Rafael Nadal has ruled him out as one of the major contenders at the Australian Open championship, believing it will take him around three months for him to recapture his old form.
Coming off an injury-marred season that saw him suffering a broken wrist and undergoing surgery to remove a swollen appendix, the 28-year old Nadal thinks he may not contend for a championship right away.
"I have to start the path that will lead me to fully recover at 100%. It is better to come back a little later, rather than not coming back at all," said Nadal, who only won four ATP titles last year after racking up 10 crowns in 2013.
Nadal, who finished runner-up to Stanislas Wawrinka in another injury-marred campaign (blisters & back problems) at the 2014 Australian Open, is also pessimistic of his chances of winning the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in Melbourne due to his current fitness condition.
"After Doha and Melbourne I plan to be playing at a very competitive level. I should be good by Indian Wells [9th of March] and Miami. In the last few months my body wasn't doing very well in general, it wasn't just the appendicitis. I will work hard to compete and win the tournaments I will play in," Nadal said in a recent interview via Tennis Tonic.
It has been five years since Nadal captured the Australian Open championship in an epic five-set showdown with Roger Federer in 2009. Although he reached the Aussie Open finals two more times, luck hasn't been on his side in these occasions as he succumbed to Novak Djokovic in another five-set thriller in 2012 and Wawrinka in four sets last January.
Meanwhile, Nadal and his camp have already launched its plan to build his own tennis Academy in an island in preparation for his life after his tennis career is over. According to Tennis Tonic, Rafael's Tennis Academy will start accepting student in 2016.
'This is a special day for me, this project that we have been working on for many years is finally a reality,'' said Nadal, who is scheduled to return in action on December 1.
