Rafael Nadal gets his 2012 Australian Open campaign underway on Monday evening against Alex Kuznetsov.
After his semi-final defeat in Doha to Gael Monfils and rumours of a dodgy shoulder, few people have been bigging up Nadal's chances at this year's Aussie Open. And with the hype machine calming down, Nadal has been pushed off to the Hisense Arena for his opening match.
It's quite strange not to see the second seed on one of the top two show courts but with most pundits focusing on the form of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Bernard Tomic going into this event, Nadal's flying somewhat underneath the radar.
Nadal has been happy to encourage that in press conferences. “Novak is the best because last year he did fantastic year. He's the No.?1 today. He deserves to be there,” he said. “I will be here fighting in every moment to try to compete against everybody with positive chances of victory, no?
But underestimate him at your peril. Nadal has a very nice draw and it's hard to see too many problems for him before the quarter-finals where he could face Tomas Berdych.
He certainly won';t have too much trouble against world number 167 Kuznetsov who is competing in just his second Aussie Open. The American played well in qualifying but he's simply not in Nadal's league.
Prediction: Nadal in three.
