Nadal takes positives in first match since August

ABU DHABI • Rafael Nadal deemed his unofficial return to competition in Abu Dhabi as a "positive start" even after he fell to Andy Murray in a high-quality exhibition match on Friday.

In a battle of two former world No. 1s, the Scot won 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-final of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

Nadal, who has played just two matches in six months after a foot injury that ruled him out of Wimbledon and the US Open, was back in action for the first time since August.

With the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, starting in a month, Mubadala was a good gauge of where the Spaniard stands in terms of his preparations.

"I think I did a lot of things well and other things, of course, after a long period of time, I need to recover again, some things that when you're under competition come automatically," Nadal said after facing Murray for the first time since 2016.

"Now I have to think more, or you don't have this extra time to make the right decisions. In general terms it has been a positive match, I even had my chances to win that second set.

"It's just a positive start. I played even better than what I thought a few weeks ago."

The 20-time Grand Slam champion also revealed that he started playing practice sets only on Wednesday.

"In Mallorca for the last five months, I played zero of these matches. I just did exercises and something more under control to try and make the normal evolution for the foot," explained Nadal.

Despite his rustiness, his peers believe he is on track for Melbourne Park.

Canada's world No. 14 Denis Shapovalov, who trained with Nadal in midweek, said: "He killed me on the court yesterday so I think he's feeling pretty good."

Another training partner, Russia's world No. 5 Andrey Rublev, added their 21/2-hour hit left him "destroyed".

Nadal plans to fly to Melbourne later this month to compete in an ATP 250 event ahead of the Australian Open, where there is a vaccine mandate on all players wishing to be part of the action.

The 35-year-old is already inoculated but when asked if he backed the new rules, Nadal said: "I am not with or without, I am just following what the organisation of health says.

"I don't pretend to know more than the authorised people say."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE