Nadal has been training in Melbourne, however he is yet to play this season due to a knee injury.

With the Australian Open getting underway in just eight days’ time, the Spaniard is keen to get some court time under his belt.

He is expected to play on Tuesday at Kooyong, which used to host the Australian Open on grass before the switch to Melbourne on hard courts.

Former world number one Novak Djokovic, who missed the second half of the 2017 campaign with an elbow injury is also expected to line up in the field at Kooyong.

As far as Nadal is concerned, his coach Carlos Moya is confident that the current world No 1 will be fit in time for the first Grand Slam of the term.

He said: “The two training sessions have been very positive after arriving late last night.

“We want to make a small adaptation to the weather and also to the track. 

“Starting tomorrow, he will start playing training sets to try on and he will continue to do so in the coming days.

“Rafa is fine, with confidence and playing at a good level.

“And we are optimists. We think it will be fine to play the tournament, if nothing gets twisted or changed."