Rafael Nadal uncertain over Australian Open appearance after injury scare in defeat – ‘Not 100% sure of anything’

Rafael Nadal has admitted that his place at the Australian Open is not certain after pushing through the pain barrier in a tough defeat at the Brisbane International.

“I need to see how I wake up tomorrow morning,” Nadal told reporters after his match against Thompson.

“These last few days, we have been talking about the positive things. That’s why I am not overly-positive when I have been talking.

“I have been talking with a lot of precaution because I know after a year it is difficult for the body to be playing tournaments at the highest level.

“When the things are becoming more difficult, you don’t know how your body is going to react. I need to be open. Nothing changed for me. The way I approach everything didn’t change at all.

“I need to accept everything how it comes. If things happen, if I have one problem there, one problem to the other part of the body, I need to accept it.

“It’s a beginning, and I haven’t played in a tournament for such a long time. I hope to have the chance to be practising next week and to play in Melbourne [at the Australian Open]. Honestly, I am not 100% sure of anything now.”

Nadal needed a medical time-out at 1-4 down in the third and decisive set against Thompson to receive treatment on his upper-left leg.

Despite those worrying scenes, the 37-year-old is confident that the problem is not as serious as the injury which forced him out for almost a year.

“It’s a very similar place to what happened last year, but different stuff, no? I feel more muscle. Last year was tendon. I felt that the muscle was tired.

“It’s not the same as last year at all because when that happened, I felt something drastic immediately. Today, I didn’t feel anything. The only problem is because the place is the same, you are a little bit more scared than usual.

“In an ideal world, it’s just the muscle supercharged after a few days of effort and a very tough match. That will be the ideal thing, something that we know that can happen today. That is why my goal is to try to be competitive in a few months.

“A lot of things can happen in a body like mine after a year without playing tennis. So hopefully, it’s just that, just a muscle that is supercharged. If that’s the thing, everything is perfect.”

Reflecting more on the match as a whole, Nadal was not too downbeat and paid tribute to Thompson for a gutsy display.

“Well, I’m tired, of course. Sad in this moment because I had plenty of opportunities. But I think he played a good match.

“For me, even though it was not the best match, I had a lot of opportunities to win it. I need to accept all these kinds of things.

“After a year, it’s normal that these things happen. As I say every day, every day is a different story, and things are difficult after such a long time.

“Today, the opponent played well and made me play one more ball. I didn’t play badly, but I was just one ball away.”