Rafael Nadal News: Can Rafa Win Another Grand Slam In 2017? Tennis Superstar Is On The Comeback Trail

It has been a case of "so far so good" for Rafael Nadal as he makes his latest injury return to start the year in hopes of ending an almost three-year Grand Slam title drought.

Fresh from winning an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi last week, the Spaniard arrived in Australia on Monday ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open. Just a day after touching down, he defeated Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets at the Brisbane International to set up a last 16 meeting on Thursday with rising German star Mischa Zverev.

It is the first time that Nadal has competed in Brisbane, having altered his schedule in 2017 to arrive Down Under two weeks before the Australian Open gets underway.

“I’m very happy with the start,” Nadal said in an on-court interview following his win on Tuesday. “I didn’t compete for a while so even if played some matches last week in Abu Dhabi – that was important for my confidence – but coming here of the first round is never easy and I am through so I’m very happy for that.”

With such a hectic season schedule to begin the year, it is clear that the 30-year-old is determined to be as finely tuned as possible for Melbourne on Jan. 16.

Nadal has not played since October when he cut short his year to fully rehabilitate a wrist injury that forced him to withdraw from the French Open and also miss out on Wimbledon. While Nadal raced back in time to compete in the Summer Olympics, he admitted that his eagerness to play in Rio had caused further complications.

Having lost early at the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, it was the first year since 2004 in which he failed to make it to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. In an effort to improve on that record in 2017, Nadal has added to his coaching team with the hiring of his long-time friend and former mentor Carlos Moya.

And one of the long-time members of Nadal’s coaching team, Francis Roig, has said this week that he believes by the time May comes around the 14-time Grand Slam champion could be the man to beat at the French Open.

“Nadal is a champion and always wants to do more,” he told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope on Monday. “You know you have to play better than before in order to come back to the top. Roland Garros is the Grand Slam that most excites Rafa. If he is competitive in the tournaments leading into it then he will come as a favorite.”

If Nadal can return to the form he showed ahead of last year’s French Open he will have a good shot. Nadal won his first Masters 1000 title in close to two years with victory in Monte Carlo last April, before following it up with another clay-court title in Barcelona.

His prospects this year could be improved, given that Novak Djokovic, one of only two men to have beaten him at Roland Garros, finished 2016 far less dominant than he had been for the previous 18 months. But for at least the Australian Open he will have to cope with a ranking, currently No 9, which means he could be left to face an early contest with one of the top seeds.