Djokovic ready to defend his Australian Open title

 　　MELBOURNE, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Should Djokovic lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup in two weeks' time, not only will he remain No. 1, he will also become the first player in the Open era to win three consecutive¹ Australian Open titles.

　　"From my personal experience, I like playing here because it's after probably five, six, seven weeks of break with no official tournament," Djokovic said.

　　"So you get time to recover, regroup, recharge your batteries mentally, physically², try to get ready for the new season with four, five weeks of good practice. You come here fresh. You're motivated and inspired to play some good tennis."His first opponent will be France's Paul-Henri Mathieu, who Djokovic will not be taking lightly.

　　"Maybe he's lower ranked at this moment but he was a top 20 player. He knows how it feels to play on a big stage. There is no underestimating him, that's for sure. I'm going to try to focus from the start," the Serb said.

　　From there Djokovic's road to history gets a little bumpier³: potential meetings with 15th seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round, fifth seed Tomas Berdych in the quarters and possibly David Ferrer, the fourth seed, in the semifinals, won't be easy.

　　One person who is guaranteed to not be there on the second Sunday is world No.4 and Australian Open 2012 finalist Rafael Nadal. Sidelined with a virus, there will be no repeat of last year's classic meeting between the two.

　　"It is definitely a loss for the tournament, for tennis, for sport in general not to have Rafa playing still on the court. It's been, what, seven months since he's played his last official match," Djokovic said.

　　"I'm sure if he felt he was ready enough to play this tournament, best-of-five in the Australian summer that can be brutal⁴ and difficult to play, then he would come. He probably felt he needs more time to recover. I wish him a speedy recovery.""It's probably expected that the three of us, and Nadal of course, would still be main candidates to win all the major titles," Djokovic said.

　　"But, you know, I wouldn't underestimate Del Potro, Tsonga, Ferrer, Berdych, anybody who is in top 10. I'm sure there's new young players coming up like Tomic, Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic." he added.

　　"We'll see. We'll see. The Australian Open always brings something interesting," said Djokovic.

1 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

2 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

3 bumpier   

adj.困难重重的( bumpy的比较级 )；崎岖的；（使） 处境艰难；气流不稳的

参考例句：

4 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。