Rafael Nadal has suggested he may not be able to play at the upcoming Australian Open due to a slow recovery from multiple injuries.
His comments – a potential huge blow for the tournament which begins in less than two weeks – came after a shock loss in Qatar to 34-year-old qualifier Michael Berrer 1-6 6-3 6-4.
This first round match was Nadal’s first of the 2015 ATP World Tour and he appeared to have had insufficient time to recover from an appendectomy.
Nadal has also been suffering from back and wrist injuries, which reduced his service speed greatly.
And he appeared to cast doubt on his ability to take part, let alone be a contender at the Australian Open, which begins in less than two weeks.
“Little things didn’t quite work out for me today,” he said. “This is the third comeback of my career after injury, so we will see how it goes in a couple of months. I wanted to start well, but it was not the case today.
“I also want to play in the Australian Open which is a tournament I like a lot. I don’t know if that will be the case either, but I am going to work for it. If not I will be playing at Rio and Buenos Aires.
“The season is long. After coming back from injury you can’t see the immediate moment, you have to look further ahead a little bit.
“Now in my mind I have to practise well and try to be ready for Australia, but I know it can happen that I will go there and lose. Perhaps I will win a couple of matches there, I don’t know.”
Berrer had only taken four games in four sets off Nadal in their previous two meetings, but recognised a career-greatest opportunity and in patches responded by raising his standards to new heights. He was also admirably frank in his assessment.
“It’s one of the matches which will stay in my memory for ever, but let’s be honest it was the first match for Rafa after injury,” he said.
“In the first set it felt like the other matches against him,” he added. “Then it became easy to attack because it was the only chance I had.
“It’s also my last season and I had nothing to lose, and I’m enjoying it here – so why not?”
Earlier Novak Djokovic, who succeeded Nadal as world number one in June, made a satisfactory start with a 6-1 6-4 win over his Serbian compatriot Dusan Lajovic.
“I didn’t know during the last couple of days whether I would be able to play,” Djokovic said, referring to the fever he has had. “So in the circumstances it was a very good start.”
Djokovic next plays Sergiy Stakhovsky, the world number 57 from Ukraine, while Berrer will face Ivan Dodi, the world number 89 from Croatia.
Two seeds went out – Philipp Kohlschreiber, the number five from Germany, beaten in three sets by his 58th-ranked compatriot, Jan-Lennart Struff, and Leonardo Mayer, the number eight from Argentina, who was beaten 5-7 7-6 7-6 by Andreas Seppi, the world number 45 from Italy.
