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The fever’s gone, but now Rafael Nadal says his game is finally running hot as he enters his all-Spanish Australian Open quarter-final with David Ferrer on Wednesday.
Three times a runner-up against his seventh-seeded countryman, Nadal knows it’s time to turn up the heat in his grand slam pursuit.
He promised Ferrer as much after returning to full health and form with an ominous straight-sets defeat of Marin Cilic.
“I didn’t sweat like the other days. So that’s fantastic news for me,” said the world No.1, delighted to have shaken off the after-effects of the alarming virus that had undermined his Open bid.
“The better news is I played much better than the rest of the days.
“I was able to play with high intensity, very good rhythm, playing more inside the court.
“I played more aggressive, changing rhythms with the slice and with the topspin, backhand. The serve worked better.
“So I’m very happy for everything.”
After shedding 2.5kg in his third-round sweat-fest against Bernard Tomic, Nadal said he entered his clash with Cilic “scared seriously” but will be “less anxious” about Ferrer – just wary of his Davis Cup team-mate.
“We know each other perfect,” the top seed said.
“We played a lot of times against each other. At the same time we practiced a lot of times.
“I know it’s going to be a really, really difficult match. He’s playing good. He won in Auckland. He hasn’t lost all year.
“Hopefully I can play my best tennis and have good chances to win.”
Nadal has won their past seven encounters, but lost twice on hard courts to Ferrer on two of the sport’s biggest stages in 2007 – the US Open and season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.
“He’s a fantastic player, for a lot of years being in the top positions. That’s very difficult to do, and he did,” Nadal said.
“So I have all the respect for him.”
Nadal, though, has yet to drop a set these championships and leads Ferrer 11-3 overall.
Victory for Nadal would advance the nine-time majors champion into a semi-final on Friday against either Scottish fifth seed Andy Murray, last year’s runner-up, or tournament bolter Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.
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