Rafael Nadal forced to adopt new treatments, regimes in bid to beat knee issues and prolong career Rafael Nadal's Australian Open preparations have suffered a slight setback with a straight sets loss to David Ferrer in Abu Dhabi. Rafael Nadal is fighting a constant battle with knee injuries. Rafael Nadal has embarked on a new course of treatment on troublesome knees in a bid to continue an improbable dominance. Sidelined for seven months until February, Nadal clambered back from the precipice of career-threatening injury to win 10 tournaments to reclaim the world No 1 ranking. The powerful Spaniard experimented with radical treatments after being forced off the circuit after Wimbledon in 2012 because of chronic soreness. Some of those methods included using revolutionary training machines and Plasma Rich Platelet therapy, sometimes called blood spinning. Restored to something approaching full fitness, Nadal marched to 13 finals from 14 tournaments in a remarkable performance. One of the training machines Nadal obtained allowed the left-hander to work out the precise amount of pressure being placed on certain muscle groups and to tailor his training. The other is a running machine which folds around Nadal's body and gives the effect of making him feel lighter when training. Now the reigning French Open and US Open champion is branching into another - and unspecified - area of treatment. "I feel that this one really makes me feel more comfortable," Nadal said, insisting he could not explain what the treatment was in English. It is true that (in 2013) I played a lot of days with anti-inflammatories. But I was able to compete very well once I started. That was my goal and so I was very happy about everything. Nadal said the latest round of treatment had prevented him practising as much as he wanted in preparation for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park from January 13. Rafael Nadal had a great 2013. "With this last treatment I feel more comfortable on my knee during the rest of the day," he said. I feel that I can have a more normal life than I had during the last year and a half, because then I was playing tennis, and the rest of the time just relaxed. Although I played good I was not able to enjoy myself practising other sports outside of tennis. For me, that's a very important part of my life. It is true that I am a professional tennis player, but I feel more happy when I am able to do different things. A football fanatic, Nadal has had to curb the temptation to play the sport he loves more than any other. "I haven't played football for the last two years and a half," he said. I am not confident of that yet. I love to play football more than anything else but today I feel it will not be the right decision to take risks with that, especially since the better feeling in the knees is from a few weeks ago. Nadal said he had only a week's practice in total since undergoing the latest treatment, but warned the first grand slam of the season could be too soon. "In the first week I didn't move myself, I was just practising from the middle," he said. So realistically I have been playing for one week or something, that's all. I am going to try to be competitive from the beginning. The first two events are very early for me. Nadal is set to contest his first singles match at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where he will face Czech Lukas Rosol. Wimbledon champion Andy Murray faces Qatari Mousa Zayed. World No 7 Tomas Berdych made a dismal start to the new season when he was edged out of the tournament 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4) by Croat Ivo Karlovic. Karlovic cracked 24 aces. Frenchman Gael Monfils edged past Colombian Santiago Giraldo 7-6 (7-1) 6-2.