Nadal discussed his physical condition in his pre-tournament press conference: "Good. I feel good. If I did not feel good I would not be here, so I have good feelings in terms of the surgery that I had in the foot, I can say is almost done. And then, of course, after surgery and after months without competing and having troubles to practice, of course there is always issues when you come back, but there is nothing new for me. I had a couple of ones of this and just accept the challenges that the body presents and the tennis presents. Because it is another season coming back from a tough period of time, but with highest motivation to start another season and I'm very excited to be back in Melbourne."