Melbourne: Defending champion Rafael Nadal
says this year`s Australian Open is a lottery, with any one of
a dozen players capable of winning.
The world number two Spaniard, who beat Roger Federer
here last year in a gripping five-set final, admitted he was
not the favourite this time after his injury layoff, but
didn`t want to say who he thought was.
"We will see what happens, I don`t know," he said.
"A lot of players can win right now. I don`t want to say
everybody, but like 12 players, 13 players have a good
chance."
Federer is obviously one of them, as is Nadal, Andy
Murray and Novak Djokovic, with Nikolay Davydenko the form
player having beaten the Spaniard in the Qatar Open final this
month.
Nadal`s failure to win that tournament means he comes
into the opening Grand Slam of the season without a title in
eight months, with the last one coming on the Barcelona clay
in April.
Nadal said he hadn`t had bad results, but was just
struggling to get back to winning tournaments.
"I didn`t have bad results the last five months, but I
didn`t have perfect results," Nadal said.
"But I played, I was there (for) all the tournaments.
Sure, it`s true, playing against the top players I didn`t have
very good results, but I wasn`t playing bad. I just need a
little bit more," Nadal said.
With injuries hampering the 23-year-old for much of last
year, he faces a telling time at the Australian Open, which
should provide a guide as to his current standing in men`s
tennis.
He insists the confidence is there, it`s just a question
of once again winning a final.
"The confidence? The only way to have confidence is
winning matches, winning important matches. I did that in Abu
Dhabi and I did that in Doha," he said, referring to his two
warm-up tournaments.
"So I think I am in the right way. It needs a little bit
more time ... but I am ready to try to play my best tennis. I
think I am playing well, I think I am playing much better than
what I did in the last four months."
He opens his tournament with a first round match against
Australian Peter Luczak, with Briton Andy Murray looming as a
possible quarter-final opponent.
Nadal was not ready to look that far ahead.
"I never talk about quarter-finals before getting there,"
he said. "There are four matches until the quarter-finals. We
will see what`s happen before that."
Bureau Report