Nadal nervous about return from knee injury

FILE – This Dec. 31, 2011 file photo shows Spain’s Rafael Nadal returning the ball to Roger Federer of Switzerland during the final day of Abu Dhabi Mubadala Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Nadal has confirmed he is ready to return to competitive tennis at the end of the month in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, following a six-month break to recover from a knee injury. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

MADRID — 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 U.S. 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.

“I’m prepared to accept that at the start my knee might not respond well and I may have to take it easy, mixing periods of play and rest for the first three months,” he said.

Nadal said that he wanted to play at Indian Wells and Miami with the goal of being completely fit by April to play at Monte Carlo, a clay-court tournament he has dominated for eight consecutive years.

The Abu Dhabi tournament features a six-man field that includes top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Andy Murray of Britain.