Australian Open LIVE: Fears swirl Rafael Nadal may skip Grand Slam | Tennis | Sport

Rafael Nadal’s prospects of playing the Australian Open this month are currently up in the air after his Brisbane International loss to Jordan Thompson.

The former World No 1 has been out for almost a year and needed treatment on his leg, in a similar area to where he required hip surgery last year.

Nadal admitted: “For sure it’s not the same like last year at all because when it happened last year I felt something drastic immediately.

“The only problem is because the place is the same you are a little bit more scared than usual.

“I hope it’s not important and I hope to have the chance to be practising next week and to play Melbourne.

“Honestly, I am not 100 per cent sure of anything now. A lot of things can be happening in a body like my body, after a year without playing tennis.

“So hopefully it is just that, just a muscle that is supercharged. If that’s the thing, everything perfect. That’s why… I have been talking with a lot of precaution.

“If things happens, if I have one problem there, one problem to the other part of the body, I need to accept.”