This time, however, he has arrived Down Under in a more humble position, without the top seed for the first time in three years after conceding the number one ranking to Briton Andy Murray.
I never thought of myself as a superior player on the court, even though of course at times I was very confident, I was winning a lot of matches.
He faces a stern opening test against Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco, who dumped Rafa Nadal out of the first round last year and held five match points over the Serb at the Qatar Open.
