• Australian Open

Nadal dismisses fitness fears

ESPN staff
January 12, 2012
Rafael Nadal is confident he will be at 100% for the Australian Open © Getty Images
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Rafael Nadal has dismissed fears over his fitness, with the Spaniard claiming his shoulder is "in perfect condition" ahead of the Australian Open.

Nadal won the French Open last year for the sixth time, but he looked out of sorts for much of the campaign and revealed in December that he would take a month off following the opening major of the year in a bid to get his body back in peak condition.

The world No. 2 claimed that his shoulder was causing him major problems and effectively ruled out the prospect of winning the Australian Open, but ahead of Friday's draw for the first round he has insisted he will not fail on account of fitness fears.

"It was a better result than I thought and the shoulder is in perfect condition," Nadal said of his surprise loss to Gael Monfils in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open. "Normally, you warm up for half an hour, 40 minutes, but there I was warming up for maybe an hour and a half on match days to practice a little bit more.

"I've been working hard. I think I'm working the right way. There's (Novak) Djokovic (to compete with), but there's a lot of fantastic players around and I have to be ready to compete against everybody.

"Last year I lost six important finals against him, but I played finals and that's something really difficult to do."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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