Rafael Nadal wants to ‘recover positive feelings’ ahead of 2023 Australian Open at United Cup
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Updated 28/12/2022 at 09:40 GMT
World No. 2 Rafael Nadal is looking to “recover positive feelings” at the inaugural United Cup, before he travels to Melbourne for the defence of his Australian Open title. Nadal is part of a six-player Spain team, along with Paula Badosa, Pablo Carreno Busta, Nuria Parrizas Diaz, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, David Vega Hernandez and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, in the season-opening event.
Nadal 'doesn't consider' being the best tennis player of all time
Rafael Nadal says he will focus on “recovering positive feelings” on the court prior to the defence of his Australian Open title.
Nadal is playing just one tournament before Melbourne, the United Cup, a new mixed-team event which begins on Thursday.
In October, Nadal's wife Maria Francisca Perello gave birth to the couple's first son. However, 2022 didn't have the best of endings in the tennis world for Nadal as he exited the Nitto ATP Finals at the the round-robin phase, but he is hopeful of getting back to his best ahead of the opening Grand Slam of the year.
“Always the beginning of the season is exciting,” Nadal told the press. “For everybody [it] is a new thing, all the doubts, how things [are] going to go. Even if I don't know how many seasons I have on the Tour, beginnings are always different.
“[I have the] highest motivation to try to start well. It's always important to start well for me, for the confidence.
“[The] past few months haven't been easy for me. I just try to have the right practice here before the tournament starts. Then of course, try to help the team.
“Main thing for me now is [to] recover the positive feelings on court, being competitive. I hope to. I am ready to make that happen, but let's see.”
The United Cup sees 18 nations split into six groups of three with a round-robin format which sees two men's and two women's singles matches, and one mixed doubles match for each tie.
Two groups are played in each of the three host cities - Brisbane, Perth and Sydney - with the winner from each city reaching the semi-finals, along with the next-best performing team from the group stage.
Spain have been drawn against Australia and Great Britain, with Nadal playing Cameron Norrie in his first match of the season on Saturday.
“Only thing that I am focused now is try to put myself in a competitive level,” said Nadal.
“[The] first match [is] going to be against Cam Norrie, so that's the focus now. Then for me I think is to try to win the first tie as a team more than any individual match. Then let's see what can happen against Australia.”
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