Early bye for Nadal in return to Brissie

WORLD No.1 Rafael Nadal will not have to hit the ground running at his second Brisbane International in quite the same way as he did at his first.

Nadal was seeded fifth at the 2017 Brisbane International and as he did not receive the first-round bye that the top four seeds pocket.

He had to play his first match the night after his arrival from the Middle East.

The 15-time Grand Slam title winner has agreed to play his second Brisbane International from December 31January 7.

The tournament was part of his Australian Open preparation which culminated in a five-set final loss to Roger Federer and stoked his confidence for a season that today takes him to the No.1 ranking for the first time since 2014.

Nadal is expected to again play in the Abu Dhabi exhibition in the week before the Brisbane International, but as the likely top seed at the Queensland Tennis Centre he will not have to play until the second round, either on a Wednesday or Thursday.

“Rafa will have another couple of days to get acclimatised before he plays,’’ said tournament director Geoff Quinlan.

“It will feel different for him because he won’t need to play the next day.

“Unlike last year, when he was coming off some time out with his wrist problem, he’ll have had a full season we hope after the US Open.’’

In today’s rankings list, the 31-year-old Spaniard will have 7645 points after his quarterfinal loss in Cincinnati to Nick Kyrgios, with Andy Murray on 7150 and Federer third with 7145 points.

“I’m very happy to be coming back to Brisbane – last year for me was the first experience and was very successful,’’ Nadal told Tennis Australia.

“The atmosphere is great and I really enjoyed the experience.”

Brisbane International officials will want defending champions Grigor Dimitrov and Karolina Pliskova back.

The State Government received a big bang for its buck by backing the appearance fee paid by Nadal last year, with three session record crowds.