Rafael Nadal says injured knee is ‘fine’ despite defeat in Australian Open warm-up

World number one Rafael Nadal lost his first match of the year 6-4, 7-5 to Richard Gasquet at the Kooyong Classic on Tuesday, but said he was happy after his troublesome knee held up “fine”.

Nadal’s knee injury hampered the end of his 2017 season and forced him to skip last week’s Brisbane International, but he was able to give it a workout at the non-tour event in Melbourne.

Though he lost in straight sets, the Spaniard said he would keep working hard until the start of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday.

“I”m very happy to be back in Australia,” he said. “I had a heavy year in 2017 and I started my preparation later than usual.

“But I’ve arrived in plenty of time. It’s great to get the feeling once again of playing a match.

“This was a good test for me after some good training, that’s the most important thing.”