AAJ TV : Pakistan Ki Awaz

MADRID : Former world number one Rafael Nadal, who retired injured during his Australian Open quarter-final in January, says he is fit for the Indian Wells tournament which gets underway in California on Wednesday.

"I have been training hard for three weeks. We have worked during the pre-season to recover the form which I had when I arrived in Australia. I feel strong and my knees do not hurt me. Now I just want to compete," the Spaniard said in an interview published in sports daily AS.

"My main objective, the most immediate goal, is to play well during the American claycourt season. I have 1,000 points to defend at Indian Wells as the defending champion. But the main idea is to play well," the 23-year-old added.

Nadal, who is currently ranked third in the ATP world rankings, was trailing Andy Murray in their Australian Open quarter-final when he retired due to recurrent knee troubles.

He missed Spain's Davis Cup victory over Swizerland at the weekend due to the injury but said he would like to take part in the July 9-11 quarter-final against France.

"The next elimination stage in France will be very hard and to get through it we need to all be at 100 percent. I would like to be there," said Nadal.

Spain is bidding to win its third straight Davis Cup title.

The Indian Wells tournament, which annually draws most of the world's top men and women tennis players, will run until March 22.

The attendance for the two-week event last year was 330,000, ranking it behind only the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010