Nadal, 22, was also beaten in an exhibition event by the in-form Andy Murray, and will have to play his way into form here. “There’s no damage to my confidence,” he insisted in Doha.
“I knew that the beginning of the season was not going to be easy because, although I have had more rest than other players, I have also had more time outside of competition than others.
“So it is a little bit more difficult to come back fast to my rhythm. I’ll leave here with positive feelings when I go to Australia.” The clay-court king also started slowly last year, winning his first title in April before finally wresting the top ranking from Roger Federer.
Last year’s Australian Open semi-final — which he lost to an inspired Jo-Wilfried Tsonga — was his best performance in four visits to Melbourne Park. However, Nadal won Beijing Olympic gold and also made the US Open semis, suggesting he is not a complete slouch on hard surfaces. The Spaniard also has something else in his favour one — of the fiercest competitive streaks in modern sport.
This desire can be traced back to his low-key home life in Manacor, Mallorca, where he was born into a family wellversed in sporting success.
Uncle Miguel was the ‘Beast of Barcelona,’ a well-known footballer who was capped 62 times by Spain. But it was his father Sebastien’s other brother, Toni, who changed Nadal’s life when he first handed him a tennis racquet at the age of just four. After shedding his two-handed forehand at about nine, the young Nadal quickly rose through the ranks and reached the junior Wimbledon semi-finals at his first attempt in 2002.
TOP 100
‘Rafa’ reached the top 100 in April 2003, making his first ATP final at Umag, and enjoyed his career breakthrough at Sopot a year later. In 2005 the clay-court livewire began to scythe through the rankings, reaching the top 50 in January and the top 10 three months later.
The first of four consecutive French Open crowns brought him to the number two spot that July — a position which he occupied until last August, when he finally overhauled Federer. The all-action Nadal was fast garnering a reputation for his feats on clay, and he shattered Guillermo Vilas’ 53-match win streak with 81 straight victories on the surface between April 2005 and May 2007.
SEVEN TITLES
Despite ongoing knee injury concerns exacerbated by his physical style of play, the Spaniard upped the tempo last season grabbing seven titles and ending Roger Federer’s five-year Wimbledon reign in an epic final.
The legend is secured, but super-stardom appears at odds with Nadal’s selfeffacing personality and unflashy lifestyle. Eschewing the trappings of fame, Nadal still lives with his parents above the family restaurant in Manacor where the ardent Real Madrid fan watches football matches and goes fishing with his childhood friends.
While fiercely protective of his private life Nadal is reportedly dating local beauty Maria Francisca ‘Xisca’ Perello. AFP Rochus test for Nadal
Rafael Nadal finds British contender Andy Murray in his half of the men’s singles for the Australian Open, starting on Monday.
Murray, the fourth seed, is bidding to become Britain’s first men’s Grand Slam champion since Fred Perry in 1936. Second seed Roger Federer, chasing one more slam title to equal the record 14 set by American Pete Sampras, has defending Australian champion Novak Djokovic in his bottom half of the draw.
Nadal begins his campaign against Belgian Christophe Rochus and could face unseeded former world number one and Australian finalist Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round.
Hewitt, whose ranking has slipped to 74 after hip surgery last August, has a tough first-up opponent in former finalist and 13th seed Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.
Murray’s first-round opponent is Romanian Andrei Pavel and he also has last year’s beaten finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in his quarter of the draw.
Federer, beaten by Djokovic in last year’s semi-final, takes on Italian Andreas Seppi in the first round and could meet 2005 champion and 26th seeded Russian Marat Safin in the third round.
Djokovic starts off with a qualifier and has American seventh seed Andy Roddick and Argentine 10th seed David Nalbandian in his quarter of the draw.
Tough draw for Serena
Serena Williams, chasing her fourth Australian Open title, has drawn sister Venus and in-form Russian Elena Dementieva in her half of the women’s singles draw.
The second-seeded American is looking for her 10th Grand Slam title, but has been given few favours by the draw’s computer.
She starts off against China’s Meng Yuan and has a potential quarter-final against Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and a possible semifinal against either her sixthseeded sister Venus or fourthseeded D e m e n t i e v a . Venus Williams kicks off her Australian campaign against Angelique Kerber, while Dementieva faces another German, Kristina Barrois.
World number one Jelena Jankovic has Russian third seed Dinara Safina and fifth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic in her top half of the draw.
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