Rafael Nadal 'motivated' to play and win 2018 Davis Cup barring injury issues

Spain Davis Cup captain Sergi Bruguera has revealed that Rafael Nadal is very motivated to play and win the Davis Cup but much depends on how he recovers from his injury issues which forced him to pull out of the fifth set in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open against Marin Cilic.

Scans conducted after the incident have since shown that the world number one has suffered a hip injury and will be ruled out for up to three weeks. However, Nadal is confident that the setback won't affect his calendar and is expected to play the Mexican Open, which starts on 26 February, before the first part of the American hard court season in Indian Wells and Miami.

Spain have been pitted against Great Britain in the Davis Cup and should they progress, this will open up space for Nadal to get into the team and help them win the Cup again. They have won the Davis Cup five times with their last coming in 2011. Nadal played a part in three of these wins and is very motivated to make a comeback in 2018 should Spain progress further in the competition.

"Yes, yes, he is very motivated. He really wants to play the Davis Cup again and try to win again. Sometimes your body asks for the necessary rest and make the necessary adjustments to change the surface. He has to take care of all these aspects. If we advance, we'll analyse next tie," Bruguera told Spanish publication ElMundo.

Meanwhile, the Spaniard may lose his number one ranking to Roger Federer with the Swissman's win in the Australian Open pitting him only 155 points behind Nadal, a gap which can be overturned if Federer plays in the Dubai Open later this month and Nadal pulls out of his scheduled tournament.

However, the 31-year-old has stressed that he won't go out of his way and put his health at risk to defend his spot.

"I'm not going to commit any madn0ess in order to keep the No 1 spot," Nadal said, as quoted by the Express. "The first thing is to be healthy, happy and eager to work."