MADRID (AP) - After a seven-month hiatus nursing an injured knee, Rafael Nadal is nervous about his upcoming return to the tennis court and believes it may be some time before he is back in top form.
"I have my doubts. It's normal, we are talking about a knee, so of course I am afraid to see how it is going respond," Nadal told Canal Plus television on Friday. ``But I can only trust my doctors and believe in myself and that everything will be all right."
The 26-year-old Spaniard is set to play an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 27, his first action since being sidelined with tendinitis in his left knee following a second-round loss to then 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon in June.
The injury prevented Nadal from defending his Olympic singles gold at the London Games, where he was supposed to be Spain's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. He also had to pull out of the US Open and Spain's Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic, which his teammates lost without him.
The 11-time Grand Slam winner and former No. 1 said his knee has improved over the last two months after making frustratingly little progress during the summer.
Even so, he acknowledged that he may have to skip some more events in order to get back to full speed.
Nadal said that he wanted to play at Indian Wells and Miami.
