Abu Dhabi: Rafael Nadal won the Mubadala World Tennis Championship for the second consecutive time and his form in Saturday's win over Roger Federer will certainly have pleased the world number one who now eyes a historic feat.
If Nadal wins the Australian Open, he will become the first man since Rod Laver to win all four Grand Slams in a row — a feat that hasn't been achieved since 1969 .
When Gulf News asked him if he felt any pressure with just the Doha event before the Australia Open, Nadal said: "No, for me it's not extra pressure. Now, for me its extra motivation".
Pressure is there
"Like always the pressure is there everyday to play well and keep winning matches and I don't think about winning Australian Open immediately," he said. "I will think about winning Doha next week and it will be important for me to put up a good performance there after that I will have one week to prepare Australia.
"You never know what's going to happen since it's going to be a very difficult tournament.
"I want to try my best but it's surely going to be very, very difficult," the world number one said.
The Spaniard said he would not be dwelling on the past, particularly on 2010 in which he won the French, Wimbledon and US Open titles after Federer took the Australian Open.
