High seed and defending males’s champion Rafael Nadal is untroubled by his winless begin to 2023, adamant he’s well-placed to win a 3rd Australian Open crown.

Nadal, 36, has received only one match for the reason that US Open, and had the uncommon expertise of withdrawing from a serious at Wimbledon when an belly damage pressured him to tug out earlier than final 12 months’s semi-final in opposition to Nick Kyrgios.

The Spaniard, winner of twenty-two grand slam titles, is striving to affix Ken Rosewall and Roger Federer as males’s main winners aged 36 or older.

“Effectively, it’s true that the final couple of months I used to be not in a position to play a lot tennis and at first of the season I misplaced two matches in Sydney, however truthfully, I’m not sad with the preparation,” the world No.2 mentioned in Melbourne on Tuesday.

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“I have to win matches for certain. However the preparation goes fairly nicely, practising quite a bit and I believe I’m in fine condition.

“Then you have to show that within the matches, within the official tournaments.

“However I’m assured that if I’m able to have this final week of optimistic practices, why not?”

Final success at Melbourne Park has proved elusive for tennis nice Nadal, with final 12 months’s victory coming 13 years after his earlier title down underneath achieved in opposition to Federer. From six Australian Open finals contested, Nadal has two titles. Premature accidents and formidable opposition have value him.