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By Chris Oddo | Saturday, January 17, 2015

In his pre-tournament press conference ahead of next week’s Australian Open, Rafael Nadal was sanguine about his 2015 hopes but not overly confident about his chances of winning a major in only his second tour-level event since returning from a six-month hiatus at the beginning of this season.

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“Would be lying if I say I feel that I am ready to win today,” Nadal told a room full of reporters on Saturday. “I don't feel myself ready to win the tournament here today.”

But the 2009 Australian Open champion and last year’s runner-up said he could change his tune if things went well in the first week down under.

“If I am here in a press conference in one week, maybe I will say another thing because will have the feeling that I will play few matches, and if I'm able to win that couple of matches, then probably I will have little bit more rhythm, I will have more confidence,” Nadal said. “But in theory, playing four, five matches in seven months, you cannot be a favorite of a tournament that is not clay, is on hard.”

Nadal, who was drubbed in his first round match in Doha by Michael Berrer, has lost to players ranked out of the ATP’s top 100 in three times in his last five defeats.

“I am doing lot of practice and doing the things that we believe we have to do to recover our level,” Nadal said of his current training regimen. “Is true that having a Grand Slam that early in the season after injury like this not the ideal thing. But here we are. I worked a lot since 10th of December. I worked a lot last couple of weeks in Abu Dhabi and Doha, then here this week. I am with calm and happy the way I did the things … I need to play better than what I am doing. I think that thing is sure. But I know to play better, I need to win matches. I need to spend hours on court competing. The only way to make that happen is to be on the tour. So I am on the tour, and that's the only way I can come back to my best level.”

When asked if having experience at coming back from injury will help Nadal find his groove, the Spaniard said that there are no guarantees. There are still doubts, and many hurdles to overcome.

“Every time is different,” Nadal said. “Every feeling is different. Every time you come back, you have the doubts, you have the feeling that you are far away from your best. But at the same time you know the only thing you can do is play with the right attitude and try to have the right schedule to play matches, to play weeks in a row. It's the only way to find the positive feelings and the confidence back. When you have put all the things together, it make your game better again. That's what I am doing.”

Nadal will open his bid for a 15th Grand Slam title with a first-round encounter with Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny.

 

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