World number two Rafael Nadal has dismissed concerns over his fitness, saying his shoulder is ‘in perfect condition’ before the Australian Open.

Nadal won a sixth French Open crown last year but lost to Djokovic in the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open.

The Spaniard said that he was working hard to regain his world No 1 ranking.

‘There’s Djokovic to compete with, but there’s a lot of fantastic players around and I have to be ready to compete against everybody,’ according to Nadal.

Nadal added that his semi-final loss to Gael Monfils at the Qatar Open last week was a better result than he had expected.

Though at some point the Spaniard admitted he lost some passion for the game towards the end of last year before leading Spain to the Davis Cup title in December.

The 2009 Australian Open champion said he was working hard to reclaim his world No 1 ranking in tennis.