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Melbourne [Australia], December 28 (ANI): The 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal stated that he is ready to go at the start of the season as he prepares to lead Team Spain to the United Cup title in Sydney.

The 36-year-old will represent his nation at the new 18-country mixed-teams event, held in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney from December 29 to January 8.

“Always the beginning of the season is exciting. For everybody [it] is a new thing, all the doubts, how things [are] going to go. Even if I don’t know how many seasons I have on the Tour, beginnings are always different,” Nadal said in Spain’s pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday as stated by ATP.com.

“[I have the] highest motivation to try to start well. It’s always important to start well for me, for the confidence. [The] past few months haven’t been easy for me. I just try to have the right practice here before the tournament starts. Then of course, try to help the team. [The] main thing for me now is [to] recover the positive feelings on court, being competitive. I hope to. I am ready to make that happen, but let’s see,” he further added.

In 2022, Nadal had another historic season, winning four tour-level titles. The 36-year-old, who has a 39-8 record this year, had success on Australian soil a year ago, winning an ATP 250 title in Melbourne before winning his second Australian Open.

The World No. 2 hopes to replicate that form this season but knows it won’t be easy with Group D matches against Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie and Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

“Only thing that I am focused on now is to try to put myself at a competitive level. [The] first match [is] going to be against Cam Norrie, so that’s the focus now. Then for me I think is to try to win the first tie as a team more than any individual match. Then let’s see what can happen against Australia,” Nadal said. (ANI)