Raf and ready Hit man: Rafael Nadal has trained hard for the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal is back at the scene of his least successful major, the only major he has not won at least twice, having suffered a double-dose of bad injury luck among eight Australian Open visits. Awaiting the 2009 champion this time is an in-form local opponent and a court surface he rates as much faster than before - an opinion putting him in the minority. The top seed will play Bernard Tomic on Tuesday, in his first match on Rod Laver Arena since the epic six-hour finals loss to Novak Djokovic in 2012. Nadal's 2013 return from his latest knee issues was an extraordinary success - 10 titles from 14 finals, including his 12th and 13th slams. Melbourne Park is, in some ways, the next/latest frontier. Against [Andy] Murray [in 2010] I have to retire. [It's] the grand slam I have the more trouble during all my career. Trying to cause some angst this time will be Tomic, who Nadal beat in three sets on a much-hyped Saturday night on Rod Laver Arena three years ago. Tomic was 18 then, and ranked 199th, and it was interesting that when Nadal was asked how much better Tomic is now than he was in 2011, he noted that "the normal evolution of the young player is that they really improve every year." A junior prodigy who burst so spectacularly onto the senior stage with a Wimbledon quarter-final from the qualifying rounds before his 19th birthday, he has finished just outside the top 50 for the past two seasons, after peaking at No.27 in mid-2012. Then again, they were at this time last year, too. So we shall see what lessons have been learnt and Nadal represents by far Tomic's most formidable first-round foe at a tournament where he has never faltered at the opening hurdle in five previous attempts. But what I thought is just I need to be ready and just practise with the great tactics every day, try to do the right things in every moment to arrive in the first round competitive. That's the only way. He has a very good talent on where to hit the ball. Tomic's home crowd support, he said, would not be anything he had not experienced before against the Queenslander, or several times here against Lleyton Hewitt. I really have fun all the time when I was able to play on this fabulous court, Rod Laver Arena. I think they understand about tennis," Nadal said. I not worried about that. As for the current version of Plexicushion, while the consensus is that it is not playing as fast as it was in Brisbane, to Nadal, it nevertheless seems "completely different conditions than what I remembered of this tournament. Well, I really don't understand very well why they change because the last couple of years, Australian Open had amazing matching, long ones, good ones for the crowd. I don't know why the people who decide, make the conditions that fast. I am not sure for the show [it] is the best thing. The dual Wimbledon and US Open champion said, however, that he did not think the conditions would adversely affect his title chances. No, I was able to play well in fast conditions in the past. But is true that I need to play my best to really have [a] chance to be very competitive here against everybody because the conditions are a little bit faster than usual. Important thing is try to be ready for the action from the beginning and be fresh mentally; something that I hope I am. That, of course, is a given, and physically, all is well. Enough. But this being Melbourne, that could change. Sometimes in the past I felt right and then I get injured in the tournament. Hopefully [I] will be healthy for the whole year. Way more so, indeed, than the No.1 ranking, which Nadal says matter-of-factly matters to him "not much." With age, that becomes less of a focus than the longevity that a healthy body is dependent upon. At 27, the Spaniard wants to continue for many years, not just a couple, and if he needs to play less at times to do that, so he will. "I have been in the top two positions in the rankings for a lot of my career, so is not something that is a priority today," he said. But is something that I will not try to find. His old rival Roger Federer has been drawn in the same stacked top half of a draw that will play on Tuesday, with the Swiss to meet another, less-seasoned young Australian, wildcard James Duckworth. Federer's coach, Severin Luthi, scouted Duckworth's match against Jarko Nieminen in Brisbane, and will now put the intelligence to good use. "I don't know him that well, but I know he's got a powerful first serve, likes to play aggressive tennis," said Federer, who admits he has less pressure and less to lose in what will be his 57th consecutive grand slam main draw - 17 of which he has won, but the last in 2012. I'll have to get some more feedback from my coach. His own take on the courts is this: not as fast as Brisbane, where the former No.1 lost in the final to Hewitt, but not such a big deal, anyway. In Brisbane it was fast, but it wasn't lightning either," Federer insisted. Really can still play from the baseline, no problem. The pair spent a week training together in Dubai in December and the Swiss expects the Swede, who was one of his boyhood idols, to fit in smoothly with his existing routines. I'm just really excited that he's taken up the offer because I didn't think he was going to do it because he's got a life. He doesn't need this," said Federer, 32. Especially his days; those were the times I remember from TV; that's kind-of what's very exciting, just hanging out with him. If it didn't work out, he would say, I'm not ready for this. At least I would have had a few nice dinners with him and able to spend time with a childhood hero, which would have been plenty to fuel my motivation, inspire me for a few weeks or months, I'd say. But now that he's going to join on the tour, you know, that's an ongoing thing, and I'm looking forward to that.