Abu Dhabi: Deposed as world number one by Novak Djokovic, Spanish ace Rafael Nadal starts the New Year with a suspect shoulder.
Nadal, the defending champion in the Mubadala Tennis Championship, said he decided to play here just three days ago due to his lack of practice.
"I had a problem before London in my shoulder and had to stop for about ten days before the World Tour finals. It felt better but again it resurfaced. In December I did not have enough time to practice because of that and I only decided to play here three days ago," said the world number two.
"So hopefully the shoulder will work well here. It is still not 100 per cent fully fit. I hope I have made the right decision to be here and to be in Doha next week," added the 25-year-old, who will be skipping the Dubai Open as he plans to make up for the lack of practice and physical fitness in February after the Australian Open.
"I have had very good practice but for only one week. I understand this is not enough. February will be my month to practice for the rest of the year."
Battle for top spot
While commending Djokovic on his achievement, Nadal said that he felt at times his own game was flawed. "I did play sometimes very predictable, I have to change direction, not play the same way all the time," he said
Commenting on the battle for the top spot, Nadal said: "Novak [Djokovic] played some [of the] best tennis and he deserved to be there. Roger, I or Novak are not going to be there forever. Tennis changes, the sport changes and it is good to have players at the top as it is good for the fans, makes it interesting for the sport. Novak has been number three for the last three or four years."
The Spaniard, however, said he was not changing much in his game after losing the top spot to Djokovic. "This is not the time to change many things, this is the time to keep playing well, to keep improving my tennis, and I will just try and be competitive in all Tournaments. Last year I was competitive in all tournaments and played in three Grand Slam finals."
