Cape Town - Rafa Nadal is still aiming to add another Grand Slam title to his CV, despite a two-and-a-half year wait since his last major success.
Nadal hopes 2017 proves to be a more fortunate year with injuries than last season after the Spaniard spent yet more lengthy spells on the treatment table.
A troublesome wrist injury sustained at the French Open kept Nadal out for much of the second half of the campaign and saw him drop down the world rankings to ninth.
But the 30-year-old’s coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, says the 14-time Grand Slam winner is eyeing his first major title since the 2014 French Open in the New Year.
“We have not been playing for much time and it affected us a lot,” he said, as quoted by Tennis World website.
“Now a new season starts and we have to earn points straightaway. Rafael's ultimate goal is to win a Grand Slam title.”
In the absence of the sidelined Nadal and Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray participated in a straight shoot-out for the world No 1 spot, with the latter moving to the top of the rankings last month.
“Andy had an unbelievable last part of the year, while we noticed the pressure that Novak went through," Nadal added.
“Both players played very well and hopefully we will be with them. We will see.”