Rafael Nadal has admitted that he will not reach 100% fitness at the Australian Open, but remains confident that he can still claim a second triumph at the tournament by showing the right attitude.
The third seed missed a large part of 2014 through injury and illness, although he sent out a huge statement to his rivals by seeing off Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-2 6-2 on the opening day of the first Grand Slam of the season.
Having set up a meeting with American Tim Smyczek in the next round, Nadal is now keen to continue pushing on.
"At the end, you know that you not going to be at 100%, so the most important thing when you are coming back is accept all the challenges, the weeks, months, that you didn't have the chance to be able to practice, to compete," he told reporters.
"Accept that you're going to be a little slow, a little out of rhythm. You can practise a lot. I did. I practised I think enough and with the right attitude, but at the end what you need is matches."
Prior to his first-round match, the Spaniard had played down his chances of winning the tournament as he eases back into action.
Daniel Lewis
