Nadal's shoulder is 'fine'

The former world number one, cosseted by an entourage of public relations people and sponsors officials, cut a slightly dejected figure as he gritted his teeth to smile for cameras outside of Rod Laver Arena on a drizzly day in Melbourne.

"My shoulder is good," the 10-times Grand Slam champion said. "Hopefully (I am ready). I will try my best."

With that, the 2009 champion was ushered into a courtesy car and whisked away from the stadium where his bid to hold all four Grand Slams at once ended last year with a painful leg injury and a straight sets defeat to David Ferrer in the quarter-finals.

Along with Djokovic and Federer, who pulled out of the Qatar Open before his semi-final due to back pain, Nadal has kept a low profile in the lead-up to the Grand Slam, but emerged later on Thursday for a practice session under cover from the rain at Rod Laver Arena.

He has struggled to overcome the sore shoulder for weeks, and has talked of taking a break after the Australian Open to recover from the injury after appearing a shadow of himself at recent tournaments.

Having lost his number one ranking to Djokovic after the Serbian's extraordinary 70-6 year, Nadal finished his season on a personal low, spinning out of the ATP World Tour Finals after an uncharacteristic thrashing by Roger Federer and a defeat by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

He bounced back to lead Spain to their fifth Davis Cup triumph over Argentina in December, but doubts over the 25-year-old's fitness have remained following his surprise semi-final loss to France's Gael Monfils at the Qatar Open last week.