Former champions Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal gave Australian Open organizers a massive boost on Tuesday when they both said they were looking forward to next week’s season opening grand slam after battling long-term injuries.
The Australian Open has been hit hard by absences with Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Kei Nishikori among those to have withdrawn, while Nadal and Novak Djokovic have also been struggling with injuries.
Wawrinka has been battling a knee injury and has not played since he was knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon last year, and the Swiss was one of the major question marks heading into the Jan. 15-28 Australian Open.
“I’m really, really happy to be back on the Tour and seeing the sun,” Wawrinka told reporters after an event with the tournament’s ball kids at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.
“For me, the first thing is to play a match, to play a tennis match again. It’s been many months out of the tour.
“It’s not always the best when you are an athlete so I’m looking forward to it, enjoying the crowd.
“Still a lot to do but I’m feeling really positive so looking forward to starting,” added the three-times grand slam winner.
Spain's Rafael Nadal returns against Belgium's David Goffin during their singles match on day two of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London on November 13, 2017. (AFP)
It was naturally a welcome news to Australian Open director Craig Tiley.
“There’s been a lot of questions and in fact this is the first time publicly in six months that he’s said anything, so we are excited that he agreed to come here and do it with the ball kids,” Tiley said.
“So he’s ready to play. I’ve watched him practice.
“Obviously to play best-of-five-set matches and to play seven of them in two weeks, he’d need to have a lot of things go his way.
“But, as he indicated this morning, he will be ready to play and it’s great to see him out here.”
