Rafael Nadal is aiming to "recover positive feelings" ahead of launching his 2023 season at the inaugural United Cup.

The Spaniard became the most successful male player in grand slam history last season as he took his title tally to 22 after landing the Australian Open and French Open.

Only Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz (both five) won more events on the ATP Tour than Nadal (four) in 2022, but his campaign ended with early exits at the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals.

The 36-year-old will return to action this week at the United Cup, where he lines up alongside the likes of Paula Badosa and Pablo Carreno Busta for Spain, before defending his Australian Open crown.

"The beginning of the season is always exciting," said Nadal, who plays Great Britain's Cam Norrie on Saturday.

"Even if I don't know how many seasons I have on the tour, the start of each year is always different.

"I have the highest motivation to try to start well. It's always important to start well for me, for the confidence.

"The past few months haven't been easy for me. I just try to have the right practice here before the tournament starts. Then of course, try to help the team.

"[The main thing for me now is to recover the positive feelings on court, being competitive. I hope to.

"I am ready to make that happen, but let's see. Only thing that I am focused now is to try to put myself in a competitive level."

Novak Djokovic made a low-key arrival in Australia on Tuesday and can expect a warm welcome from tennis fans a year on from his deportation drama, according to grand slam boss Craig Tiley.

Tiley, tournament director at the Australian Open, said he was confident the public would respond positively to the 21-time major winner who was thrown out of the country ahead of the last Melbourne Park event.

In early January this year, Australian's then immigration minister Alex Hawke determined Djokovic should be removed from the country "on health and good order grounds" and "in the public interest".

Djokovic had been granted a medical exemption to enter Australia, despite not being vaccinated, only for border officials to block him upon his arrival, setting in motion a saga that dominated the lead-up to the championship.

There had been concerns Djokovic would be banned from the country for the next three years, as that is the punishment that usually comes with a deportation order, but instead he has been welcomed back.

Australia's border entry rules changed in July, with travellers no longer obliged to provide evidence of vaccination status.

On Tuesday, Tiley said Djokovic had arrived in Adelaide, with local media also reporting he had quietly entered the country.

The Australian Open begins on January 16, with Djokovic due to compete in the first of two Adelaide International tournaments before then, from January 1-8.

Djokovic was kept in a detention centre on his arrival last year, but this time the 35-year-old Serbian can expect all the trappings that come with his status as an all-time tennis great.

"He finished 2022 playing the best tennis, he does want to get to equalling the current record held by Rafa," said Tiley at a press conference, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. "He has a goal to be the greatest of all time."

Djokovic has nine Australian Open men's singles titles, the most of any player.

Should he scoop another, he would move alongside Rafael Nadal on 22 slams, the most singles majors won by a man. Nadal won the Australian Open in Djokovic's absence last year.

Tiley thinks Djokovic has achieved enough in his career for last January's sorry soap opera to be set aside, saying: "I have a great deal of confidence in the Australian public.

"We're a very well-educated sporting public, particularly those who come to the tennis, they love their tennis, they love seeing greatness, they love seeing great athleticism, great matches.

"And I have a lot of confidence that the fans will react like we hope they would react and have respect for that."

Ahead of his journey Down Under, Djokovic had said: "I'm just glad to have a chance to start there.

"After obviously what happened earlier this year, hopefully, I can have a decent reception there, and that can help me play some good tennis."

Novak Djokovic wants to play for as long as his body is able as he aims to emulate Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer after coming through a challenging 2022 campaign.

Djokovic began last season in somewhat controversial circumstances after he was barred from the Australian Open for his stance on vaccination for the global coronavirus pandemic.

The 21-time grand slam champion lost his world number one spot after failing to defend his French Open crown but roared back to glory at Wimbledon.

A record-matching fifth ATP Finals title took him level with the recently retired Federer and 35-year-old Djokovic has no intentions of slowing down in the new year.

"I would like to play as long as I possibly can," he stated in Dubai on Friday. "I don't have really any number in my head.

"Things are progressing so far pretty well for me. I can't complain. So as long as I play at this level, as long as I have the fire, I'll keep going."

Djokovic may have been unceremoniously deported from Australia earlier this year amid the fallout over his vaccination status but he has enjoyed playing at the first grand slam of the year in recent seasons.

At no other grand slam event has the Serbian been more prolific, with nine titles to date, and he is relishing the chance to start his season in Melbourne once more.

"I'm just glad to have a chance to start there," he added. "My record has been pretty decent over the years in Australia. So I look forward to going there.

"I always ask for the best for myself. Over the years, I've been really fortunate to start very strong in Australia and love playing there.

"After obviously what happened earlier this year, hopefully, I can have a decent reception there, and that can help me play some good tennis."

Rafael Nadal has revealed he had tears in his eyes as Lionel Messi led Argentina to World Cup final glory.

Even for Real Madrid fan Nadal, there was a joy in seeing former Barcelona talisman Messi achieve his greatest feat at an age when some doubted he would ever lift the trophy.

Now 35, Messi was the driving force behind Argentina's success in Qatar. He scored two goals as Sunday's final against France ended in a pulsating 3-3 draw, plus a penalty in the shoot-out that followed, clinching the Golden Ball as the tournament's outstanding player.

For Nadal, who won his 22nd grand slam two days after turning 36 in June, seeing another person achieving late-career success is something to which he can relate.

"Messi lifting the World Cup made me happy. That someone so great culminates with a title that was missing, of this calibre, with all that it means for Argentina, it seemed fair to me," Nadal said.

"I enjoyed it and I was moved. Without siding with Argentina, when Messi scored the third goal tears came to my eyes.

"It was because of the emotion of seeing someone so great achieve what was missing, having suffered so much to achieve it."

Nadal would also have taken a close interest in Kylian Mbappe hitting a hat-trick for France in the Lusail Stadium final, given the Paris Saint-Germain striker is a long-time Madrid target.

Mbappe snubbed Madrid to sign a new PSG contract in May, but it would be no surprise if eventually he ends up at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The matter of Mbappe came up in an interview with AS, who made Nadal their athlete of the year.

Nadal was asked if he would forgive Mbappe if he signed for Madrid.

"I don't have to forgive Mbappe for anything and as a Madrid fan, if he could, come tomorrow," Nadal said.

"In the end, things happen in sports and I suppose that such a young boy was overwhelmed by such tremendous pressure from all angles that in the end... I think he wanted to come to Madrid, but due to many factors, everything was very complicated for him. Hopefully we can see him in Madrid in the future."

Nadal said he would be leaving for Australia on December 26 and cautioned against expecting too much immediately at the start of the new tennis season, pointing to "very difficult" singles matches at the United Cup against Cameron Norrie and Nick Kyrgios.

The Australian Open, where Nadal is the defending men's singles champion, begins on January 16 in Melbourne, with all the focus on getting into prime shape by then.

"Let's see now how the year begins. I'm aware that I'm a little tight here, but I'm confident that I can get to the level I need to be competitive in Australia," Nadal said.

"We'll see what happens. Things change very quickly in sports. But I have the illusion of having a good year again and giving myself options to compete again at the highest level. I am aware that I am the age that I am, and that things happen. I will have to manage it in the best possible way and try to do my best to give myself real options."

Nick Kyrgios has doubled down on the claim he will retire if he wins a grand slam next year, saying years of intensive travel have left him "exhausted".

Kyrgios enjoyed the best grand slam run of his career when he finished as runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon this year, while he also reached the last eight at the US Open.

However, the Australian questioned his future in the sport earlier this week, telling reporters in Dubai: "Hopefully I can win a slam and just retire."

Speaking to Eurosport, the world number 22 insisted that remark was serious, saying his private life had suffered due to his time spent travelling to take part in ATP Tour events. 

Asked if he would really call time on his career in the event of winning a first major singles title, Kyrgios said: "Honestly, I probably would.

"Especially being from Australia as well, there's just so much travel, so much time away from family, so much time away from friends. 

"You're just missing milestones in the family, you're just not having a normal life, really. No other tennis player that's not from Australia gets that."

Kyrgios believes few athletes can match the sacrifices he has made in his career, citing the strain caused by spending long periods away from his home country. 

"It's easy for a European or an American player to lose or win a tournament, then you take a five-hour flight back home and you spend a week there before the next event," Kyrgios said.

"Whereas as an Australian, you're doing four- to seven-month travel blocks. Honestly, I don't think it's healthy. 

"No other real athlete does that in the world, in any sport, doing seven months on your own. 

"I'm exhausted honestly. It's just stressful. The more you win, the more success you have, the more demands you have off the court. People expect more from you. 

"People are like, 'why are you complaining about it?' It's not what they think. You're living out of a suitcase at hotels, it's not like you're on holiday. 

"You've got to go to tennis courts and train. The lifestyle is quite vigorous. If it happens, I probably would [retire], to be honest."

Kyrgios has only reached the last eight at the Australian Open on one occasion, and with the next edition of his home slam approaching, the 27-year-old is less than enthusiastic.

Asked if he will feel refreshed by the time the Melbourne major begins next month, Kyrgios said: "Probably not. There is a little bit of excitement, but it's probably 95 per cent stress, five per cent excitement, to be honest."

Andy Murray has conceded he is just one major injury from being forced to retire, though the three-time grand slam winner remains keen to play on.

Murray underwent two hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019, causing him to spend much of the last four years on the sidelines.

However, Murray returned to the top 50 of the world rankings after making two tour-level finals in 2022, while his run to the third round of the US Open represented his joint-best grand slam campaign since Wimbledon 2017.

The two-time Wimbledon champion saw rival Roger Federer retire from the sport in September after struggling with a knee injury, and while he acknowledges fitness concerns could force his hand, Murray is not yet looking to follow suit.

"If my body is in good shape and I'm still able to compete consistently, I'll keep playing," Murray said.

"But I can't look so far in advance with the age I'm at and with the issues I've had. If I was to have a big injury, I probably wouldn't try to come back from that."

Murray has been training with coach Ivan Lendl in a bid to ensure he enters next month's Australian Open in peak condition, having missed three of the last five editions of the tournament.

"I spent three weeks in Florida, getting my body right and getting some work done on my game and it went really well," he said.

"I'm certainly in better shape than I was. A lot of work was done in the gym, trying to build up my endurance and my stamina a bit and I'm hoping that's going to help me next year.

"I wasn't happy with how last season went – certainly the last six months or so from a physical perspective – but my ranking still went from 125 to 50 in a year. 

"I'm hoping that this year, with the work I've done, things will continue to improve and I'll still be motivated to get out there and compete."

Rafael Nadal has made a swift appointment after long-time ally Francis Roig left his coaching team.

The record 22-time men's grand slam singles champion has brought in Argentinian Gustavo Marcaccio to work with lead coach Carlos Moya and Marc Lopez.

Nadal announced on Friday that Roig was departing, having worked with the Spaniard since 2005, to take on "a new project".

With the new ATP season just days away from beginning, Marcaccio has accepted the chance to step in, with the 45-year-old having held a position at Nadal's academy in Mallorca for the past 20 months.

Marcaccio had a mostly undistinguished playing career, reaching a high of 284th on the rankings, but he has strong coaching credentials, having worked with the likes of Juan Monaco, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Guido Pella.

Nadal wrote on Twitter: "Hello everyone. I want to inform you of the incorporation of Gustavo Marcaccio to the technical team.

"Gustavo has been working at the @rafanadalacademy since April 2021 and I understand that he is a good addition to the team. I am sure he will help us a lot to follow the path. Welcome!"

Nadal will return to Melbourne as the defending champion at the Australian Open in January, having won that and the French Open in 2022 to move ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on the men's all-time grand slam list.

Tennis icon Venus Williams will compete in her 22nd Australian Open in January after it was announced on Sunday she had been awarded a wildcard entry.

Williams, 42, is a seven-time grand slam singles champion, but she only played four competitive matches in 2022, losing all four.

A five-time Wimbledon winner with two US Open titles on the singles side, Williams is also one of the sport's most decorated doubles players, collecting another 14 grand slam doubles titles, including four in Australia.

She won the Australian Open doubles in 2001, 2003, 2009 and 2010, while making the singles final in both 2003 and 2017.

In the press release announcing her wildcard, Williams confirmed her plans to compete once again in Melbourne.

"I am very excited to be returning to Melbourne to compete at the Australian Open in January," she said.

"I've been competing in the country for over 20 years now and the Australian community has always supported me wholeheartedly.

"It will be an honour to play for the fans again and I'm looking forward to making more memories at the tournament this year."

It remains to be seen if she will be joined by her sister, Serena, who is a seven-time singles champion at the event and Venus' partner for her four doubles successes.

After her exit from the US Open, Serena heavily implied she was weighing up another go down under, saying "I always did love Australia".

Nick Kyrgios admits the pressure he is facing is "a lot to handle", as he prepares for next month's Australian Open.

Having started 2022 with a doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis at his home grand slam, Kyrgios then advanced to the final of Wimbledon and suffered defeat at the hands of Novak Djokovic.

That form, which also saw him reach the quarter-finals at the US Open, has put the 27-year-old in the conversation as a title contender for the 2023 grand slams, the first of which begins in Melbourne on January 16.

Kyrgios is aware there are great expectations for him in the year ahead and conceded it is not easy being in the spotlight, particularly ahead of his home grand slam.

"I always believe that pressure is a privilege. In real life, there's not much pressure to being a professional tennis player," he told Eurosport.

"We earn great money, we travel around the world with our favourite people. We get to see different people, different cultures.

"In the scheme of things, that's not pressure but I completely understand going on the match court with all this expectation that 'Nick Kyrgios is legitimate chance to win a grand slam now'.

"There's a lot of pressure there, especially having the Australian Open and everyone in Australia expecting big things from me. It's a lot to handle sometimes. Being in the spotlight is not easy."

The last Australian man to win a singles grand slam title was Lleyton Hewitt in 2002 at Wimbledon, while the wait for men's success at home goes back further to 1976 – when Mark Edmondson was victorious in Melbourne.

While there is a desire for Kyrgios to end those lengthy waits, he has made it clear he wants the success for his own goals, not for anyone else.

"I've learnt that the people will never have enough. For me, I've achieved some great things in this sport and where I came from," he said.

"I know I'm content with myself. I want to achieve more for myself, but for all of my team, not for anyone else."

Novak Djokovic will feature at January's Adelaide Invitational, just one year on from being deported from Australia.

It was confirmed last month Djokovic is free to play at the Australian Open after a three-year ban imposed on him entering the country was overturned.

Back in January, Djokovic was at the centre of huge controversy following his attempts to play in Melbourne despite not receiving a vaccine to protect against COVID-19.

That led to Djokovic being deported, having his visa cancelled on public health grounds, and hit with an automatic three-year ban on entering Australia.

However, immigration minister Andrew Giles handed Djokovic a visa after the vaccine mandate that was in place earlier this year was no longer a barrier to his participation.

As such Djokovic, a record nine-time Australian Open champion, will warm up for his return to Melbourne by playing in Adelaide, where the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, and Andy Murray will also be involved.

Djokovic was the victor at the season-ending ATP Finals in November and is targeting a 22nd grand slam title, which would take him level with Rafael Nadal as the most singles slams held by a male player.

Rafael Nadal has welcomed the news that Novak Djokovic will be free to compete at the Australian Open.

Djokovic was at the centre of controversy in January following his attempts to play in this year's tournament in Melbourne despite being unvaccinated against COVID-19, and the 21-time grand slam winner was eventually deported after having his visa cancelled on public health grounds.

However, Djokovic recently confirmed he will be free to play in the 2023 Australian Open after his three-year ban from entering the country was overturned.

Nadal and Djokovic have dominated tennis along with the now-retired Roger Federer for much of the last two decades, and the Spaniard was pleased to hear of his rival's availability to compete.

"I always said the same; tennis is better when the best players are on the court," he said. "At the end we don't have to create many stories. Even if it was a big mess what happened last year in Australia, it was not good for our sport.

"That was the past. Roger is not playing any more. I missed a lot of grand slams [with] injuries. Last year, Novak was not able to play there.

"That's the past. What's next is Novak will be able to play again. That's the best news possible, especially knowing that now the virus is more under control it seems around the world. So why not? Happy for him. Happy for the tournament. Happy for the fans. That's it."

Nadal beat Casper Ruud in his final game at the ATP Finals on Thursday.

Novak Djokovic has confirmed he will be free to play in the 2023 Australian Open after his three-year ban from entering the country was overturned.

Djokovic was at the centre of huge controversy in January following his attempts to play in Melbourne despite being unvaccinated against COVID-19.

The 21-time grand slam winner was eventually deported after having his visa cancelled on public health grounds. 

He was initially allowed to enter the country in spite of his vaccine status, amid widespread furore over his apparent flaunting of strict regulations.

His deportation resulted in an automatic three-year ban. However, with the vaccine mandate that was in place earlier this year no longer a barrier for Djokovic, the decision has been made by immigration minister Andrew Giles to hand him a visa.

Speaking at the ATP Finals in Turin on Wednesday, Djokovic confirmed the decision, saying: "Well, of course, I was very happy to receive the news yesterday.

"It was a relief, obviously, knowing what I and people closest to me in my life have been through this year with what happened in Australia and post-Australia. I could not receive better news for sure – during this tournament as well."

Djokovic has won the Australian Open singles title nine times in his career, last doing so in 2021 when he beat Daniil Medvedev in the final.

Rafael Nadal is not certain he will return to his very best form and full fitness in 2023 – but he has no doubt he will give it his very best shot.

The veteran Spaniard went down 6-3 6-4 to Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday at the ATP Finals, his second defeat in the round-robin group stage and a fourth consecutive loss overall.

This season began in stunning style for Nadal as he won the Australian Open and followed that with a 14th French Open title, taking his tally of grand slams to 22 - a record haul for a male singles player.

However, Nadal has a serious ongoing foot problem, and the 36-year-old had to withdraw from Wimbledon prior to a semi-final against Nick Kyrgios after suffering a torn abdomen.

Injuries have prevented him playing a full season, and he was clearly not at his best against Auger-Aliassime, who has Nadal's uncle, Toni Nadal, on his coaching team.

Asked whether he will take an optimistic or doubtful approach into next season, Nadal said: "You can be both ways. You can be optimistic and have doubts. Why not?

"For me the doubts, as I said plenty of times, are very good in this world. People who don't have doubts, it is probably because they are too arrogant, from my point of view.

"If you are not optimistic or positive, it's impossible that things are going to go the proper way. That's my point of view and that's my approach."

He will hope to make a strong start to the new campaign in Australia, and will put in the work to give himself every chance of showing up in shape to win again.

"I just need to recover all these positive feelings and all this confidence and all this strong mentality that I need to be at the level that I want to be," Nadal said.

"And I don't know if I'm going to reach that level again. But what I don't have any doubt about is that I'm going to die for it."

He will round off his round-robin campaign against Casper Ruud in Turin on Thursday, facing the young Norwegian he crushed in the French Open final.

Once he returns to his Mallorca home, Nadal can look at what lies ahead.

"What can happen in Australia? I don't know. It's a month and a half away," Nadal said.

"What can I do to give myself a positive chance to have a good season next year? As always, be humble enough to accept that I have a challenge in front, that the last six months have been very difficult for me.

"I need to work more and I need to recover things that I lost because I was not able to practice the proper way, I was not able to compete the proper way.

"What I have to do now is come back, work hard, stay positive every single day, accept the challenge, accept that I am going to need to suffer a little bit more."

Novak Djokovic expects to find out in the "next few weeks" whether he can participate in next year's Australian Open and says the early signs are positive.

The 21-time grand slam winner was denied the chance to defend his title in Melbourne in January after having his visa revoked because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Due to Australian immigration laws, Djokovic – who was also blocked from taking part in this year's US Open – faced a potential three-year ban from entering the country.

However, with fewer than three months to go until the 2023 edition begins Down Under, Djokovic is still hopeful his ban is waived so he can obtain a visa.

Asked for an update on the situation, the Serbian told Sportal: "When it comes to Australia, there are some positive signs, but unofficially.

"We are communicating through my lawyers in Australia. In fact, they are communicating with the authorities in charge of my case. 

"I hope to have an answer in the next few weeks, whatever that answer might be. I am hoping for a positive one so I have enough time to prepare for the start of the season."

Djokovic has won nine titles at Melbourne Park, which is the most of any male singles player and the most he has won at any of the four majors.

Rafael Nadal won the event this year in Djokovic's absence, and the latter is desperate to get a chance to draw back level on grand slam titles won by competing in Australia.

"I really want to go there. I am over what happened this year and I just want to play tennis, it is what I do best," he said.

"Australia has always been the place where I have played my best tennis, the results speak for themselves, so I am always extra motivated to go there. This time even more so.

"I am waiting for the permission again. It's a good thing they have now opened the borders for the unvaccinated foreigners travelling to Australia. 

"I have that ban, I hope it will be lifted. As I said, it is not in my hands, I hope the people in the Australian government will give a positive answer, that is all."

Novak Djokovic will receive no assistance from Tennis Australia in lobbying for his ban to the country to be lifted for next year's Australian Open, says boss Craig Tiley.

The Serbian was deported after having his visa cancelled on public health grounds ahead of this year's tournament having been initially allowed to enter the country in spite of his unvaccinated status, amid widespread furore over his apparent flaunting of strict regulations.

TA played a part in securing his arrival, with Djokovic under the belief a medical exemption would have allowed him to compete, and the 21-time grand slam champion indicated his hope to return despite a three-year ban from the nation.

Now, Tiley has said the governing body will not advocate for his return, and that it will ultimately be a decision for the Australian government.

"What we're saying at this point is that Novak and the federal government need to work out the situation, and then we’ll follow any instruction after that," he stated at the tournament launch.

"I did spend some time with Novak at the Laver Cup. We spoke generally. He said that he'd obviously love to come back to Australia, but he knows it’s going to be an ultimate decision for the federal government.

"He's accepted that position. It's a private matter between them. It's not a matter we can lobby on.”

The deadline for tournament applications is in December - and Tiley also revealed Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to feature, albeit as independent athletes under a neutral flag.

The 2023 Australian Open is the first since the former invaded Ukraine earlier this year, and while Wimbledon barred players from both countries, they were permitted to compete at the French Open and US Open.

"At this point, Russian and Belarusian players will be eligible to play in the Australian Open," he said. "The only difference will be that they cannot represent Russia, cannot represent the flag of Russia.

"They cannot participate in any activity such as the anthem of Russia, and they have to play as independent players under a neutral name. But they will be welcome to the Australian Open in January."