Rafael Nadal is looking to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open first round but he faces a difficult foe in fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta this morning.
The world No 1 is launching an assault for his 20th Grand Slam title in Melbourne in an attempt to tie Federer’s record.
But he claimed to not be thinking about creating history as he aims to take the tournament one match at a time.
“I think about the next match. That’s all,” Nadal said. “I think about my practice of tomorrow, try to follow up the level of tennis that I played.
“That should be my main goal today, no? I need to play at my highest level if I want to keep going on the tournament.
“If I am able to reach my highest level, that’s the thing that I have to worry about. If I am able to play at my highest level, normally I am able to produce some good chances. If not, impossible.
“So I don’t care about 20 or 15 or 16. I just care about try to keep going, keep enjoying my tennis career. Is not like 20 is the number that I need to reach. If I reach 20, fantastic. If I reach 21, better. If I reach 19, super happy about all the things that I did in my tennis career, no?
“I am very satisfied about my tennis career because I give it all most of the time. That’s only thing that matters because I don’t think – honestly, something I don’t really think about it.
“I don’t think in the future being achieving 21 Grand Slams, for example, I’m going to be happier than if I am 19 in 10 years.
“I won the US Open few months ago, and I was super happy in that moment. But today I’m happier than if I didn’t win the US Open? Probably not.
“That’s the only thing that matters in this life, no? Of course, I want to do it the best way possible because that’s what I am doing since the beginning of my life almost.
“But only thing I can do is put all my efforts on try to keep going the best way possible. The rest of the things, the future will see.”
How can I watch Nadal vs Carreno Busta?
Live coverage will be shown by Eurosport throughout the UK.
The channel is available with Sky, BT and Virgin sports packages.
Streaming is available via the Eurosport Player, both online and through the app.
A seven-day free trial for the Eurosport Player is available through Amazon Prime Video, which incidentally has a 30-day free trial for new subscribers.
Fans can also live stream the match for free via selected UK betting sites.