Rafa Nadal: If I had played Brisbane, I would have stopped for one month

In press conference at the Brisbane International explained the reasons for his withdraw from the tournament, in which he was supposed to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the opening round. I feel myself good, but after a long period of time without competing, I felt a little bit the leg, the tightening in Abu Dhabi the first match, said Nadal.

Thats why I didnt play the second. So I came here. I did an MRI, and it shows a very small strain on the left thigh, but its there. And my feelings are not bad. I practice every day. I tried to play and I still wanted to play.

But all the recommendations from the doctors, the two doctors from here and the doctors from my confidence in Spain tell me that even if my feeling is better, my feeling is much better today than three days ago, after they analyze the images, they say if I play here, there is a risk, important risk to dont have the chance to play Melbourne.

And if I dont play the evolution of the thing is going very well. I am practicing. I feel that I can give a good level of tennis. But I cant do my 100 percent. Its true. So if I dont play here, I probably secure that Im going to be 100 percent ready for Melbourne.

So everybody is telling me that its not a good idea to increase the possibility to make the strain a bigger problem. ALSO READ: Rafael Nadal: Worse players than David Ferrer won a Grand Slam title