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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 2, 2019

Rafael Nadal

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

THE MODERATOR: First question for Rafa, please.

Q. Rafa, I take it you're not here with good news about the tournament. What's happened?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. As I say the other day, I feel myself good, but after a long period of time without competing, I felt a little bit the leg, the tightening in Abu Dhabi the first match. That's why I didn't play the second. So I came here. I did an MRI, and it shows a very small strain on the left thigh, but it's there. And my feelings are not bad.

I practice every day. I tried to play and I still wanted to play. But all the recommendations from the doctors, the two doctors from here and the doctors from my confidence in Spain tell me that even if my feeling is better, my feeling is much better today than three days ago, after they analyze the images, they say if I play here, there is a risk, important risk to don't have the chance to play Melbourne. And if I don't play the evolution of the thing is going very well. I am practicing. I feel that I can give a good level of tennis. But I can't do my 100 percent. It's true. So if I don't play here, I probably secure that I'm going to be 100 percent ready for Melbourne. So everybody is telling me that it's not a good idea to increase the possibility to make the strain a bigger problem.

Q. Rafa, can I ask when you received the news about the MRI in relation to when you practiced this afternoon?
RAFAEL NADAL: I know it. The thing is, you know, I did MRI a couple of days ago. I did on Tuesday. But there's always time difference between here and in Spain. So I spoke with my doctors there yesterday. I went to sleep. When I wake up, they were sleeping already today. So I had to wait until later today to make the final decision.

Yesterday was not an easy day. First of January, my personal doctor, Angel Ruiz-Cotorro, was 100 percent ready to see the images and everything, but he wanted to confer with another specialist the thing. So yesterday was not the ideal day. So they did it later yesterday and today in the morning. So I practiced it because my goal and my idea was to play all the time. That's why I'm here, and for me you can't imagine how sad I am to be here in front of us having to announce that.

But after analyzing everything, they say that it's a very small thing, but can become a big thing, because a strain in the muscle is dangerous. When you increase the intensity on the muscle competing, then there is a big risk to make something bigger. And today it's not big. I feel better than four days ago. So the normal improvement is I will be practicing. Probably I'm 100 percent in five days. And then I have plenty of time to prepare Melbourne. But I never like to say I am pulling out of one tournament to prepare another. I say that in my tennis career. I will not say that today. But there is a strain. It's not preparing for another event. But it's a waste to damage my body for one month if I keep playing here. After all the things that happened to me, probably I am not ready to assume that that waste. It's not only missing Melbourne, but for me it's going to be something terrible. It's about staying for one more month without playing tennis, without doing the thing that I want to do and interrupting all the recovery and all the hard work that I did after the surgery. So probably it's the safest decision possible.

Q. Rafa, what would be your hopes for the Australian Open with one exhibition match and possibly the night in Sydney as well? Do you think you can have a good Australian Open off that preparation?
RAFAEL NADAL: My hope is to win the Australian Open. That's the hopes, always. The situation, I can't tell you. We'll see how the things improves. And being honest, I feel myself playing well. I feel myself playing at a good level of tennis. And I feel myself with very high motivation to compete and to play. And was terrible news for me that things were not the way that I planned, but coming back from a period of time outside of the competition and coming back from a surgery, you know, there's always a chance that this kind of stuff happens. It happened in Abu Dhabi. But I really believe that I will be 100 percent ready for Melbourne. Last year, in my opinion last year, my situation, my previous situation of the Melbourne tournament was much worse than last year. And I was in quarterfinal winning two sets to one to be in that semifinal. So I have experience. I have the knowledge of these things happens. And that happens to me probably 10 years ago, I will tell you my chances will be much less, because before I felt that I needed matches and time to be ready to compete at a good level is not the situation today. I showed myself that I can be playing very well without competing for a while. And I'm going to work as hard as I can, and I'm going to play and practice with the highest tactical possible to be 100 percent ready for Melbourne. For me it's a big goal to be ready for there and I'm going to fight for it.

Q. When will you start practicing in Melbourne itself?
RAFAEL NADAL: I'm going to keep practicing here. I will not stop practicing. You can watch me practice every day here until Saturday. Probably on Sunday I'm going to take my day off. I'm going to play the Fast4 in Sydney Monday night. And on Tuesday I'm going to be practicing in Melbourne.

Q. Rafa, obviously really disappointing that this is a similar situation that happened to last year, but what would you like to say to the Brisbane fans?
RAFAEL NADAL: It's a completely different situation. Last year had been a very tough end of the year for me. I mean in 2017, I had to pull out from Paris and London, and I had a terrible off season. I didn't have the chance to practice almost not one day with good conditions with too many problems on the knees. And this year was not the case. I had the surgery, but after the surgery I was able to have some good weeks of practice. I have been positive. I feel my body better than last year. That's an accident that happened product of being out of the competition for a while. I have to accept that. I have to be ready to understand that this kind of stuff happens when you're coming back from injuries. I have to accept and keep going. Of course, it's very tough for me to be here. As I said before, and especially for the tournament, especially for the fans, that this is the second year that they don't going to have the chance to watch me play here. But no doubt that the person that is more affected and the person that suffers more in this situation is me.

So very sorry to everybody. Thank you very much to all the tournament for understanding. Cam knows the situation since I arrived here and was all the time supporting and supporting the thing that I had to do. And I know it's tough. But that's the sport. I am here. I tried my best until today. I wanted to play. I keep want to play. But will be against my physician and I cannot do mistakes.

Q. Aside from the leg strain, Rafa, everything else is healthy? Everything else is okay?
RAFAEL NADAL: I am practicing well. Yeah. I had a good off season, as I said before. And I am playing well, good tennis. I feel myself ready and always it's tough when you have to go from a tournament, but especially if you feel yourself ready and playing well, and that was the case.

Q. Just in general how much have you felt the love of Brisbane just being out there on the court it's been a home away from home?
RAFAEL NADAL: Every day. Last year -- no, 2017 I felt the same. Every time that I was practicing, the court is full. I enjoy that. I enjoy the interaction with the fans. And at some point the support of all of them makes me keep going, even in tough moments. So I can't thank enough to all the people to support during all my career, especially the tough moments.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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