Rafa's Radio interview on Onda Cero ...

Radio is the name of the game for Rafa this week, as he gave another interview on Onda Cero yesterday.

There's a link here that takes you to the videos and the Spanish report - which I could put through a Google mangle - but the trouble is, there are already reports floating around today claiming that Rafa has said that he is unlikely to return at the Australian Open.

That's not the case. From reading translations on Twitter, Rafa has said that he's feeling good on court, he's not yet ready to train at maximum intensity, but he'll need to be able to do that for two weeks before he's ready to return to competition. Regarding Australia, he said that he really wants to return in January but that he doesn't expect to return and win there. Interviews in both Spanish and Malloquin with non-designated official English translations all add to the mix when Rafa is speaking on these subjects. However, I personally think that he has been consistent across both radio interviews and is keeping to the sensible "softly, softly" approach. He wants to be back when playing at his maximum level. He's not yet even training at his maximum level as he's not doing 3 hours a day, and he feels he needs to be training at the max for two weeks before playing competitively. Its all build up in my opinion, and he's seeing how he feels, but he's not discounting Australia or any of the other pre-Slam tournaments he's currently scheduled to play.

I just think that Rafa is listening to his body and is being steady in his approach to his return, but his cautious words are not discounting himself out of anything.

Anyhow ... here's a video of the interview ...

And this one is worth it for the eyebrow action if nothing else ...