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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY 2018 Sport 20 SPORTTODAY TENNIS FOOTBALL Wawrinka, Nadal give a huge boost to Australian Open FORMER champions Stan Wawrinka and Rafa Nadal gave Australian Open organisers a massive boost yesterday when they both said they were look- ing forward to next week's sea- son opening grand slam after battling long-term injuries. The Australian Open has been hit hard by absences with Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Kei Nishikori among those to have withdrawn, while Na- dal and Novak Djokovic have also been struggling with in- juries. Wawrinka has been battling a knee injury and has not played since he was knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon last year, and the Swiss was one of the major question marks heading into the January 15-28 Australian Open. "I'm really, really happy to be back on the Tour and seeing the sun," Wawrinka told re- porters after an event with the tournament's ball kids at Mel- bourne Park yesterday It was naturally welcome news to Australian Open di- rector Craig Tiley. "There's been a lot of ques- tions and in fact this is the first time publicly in six months that he's said anything, so we are excited that he agreed to come here and do it with the ball kids," Tiley said. "So he's ready to play. I've watched him practise. "Obviously to play best-of- five-set matches and to play seven of them in two weeks, he'd need to have a lot of things go his way. But, as he indicated this morning, he will be ready to play and it's great to see him out here." Tiley's mood would have improved even further after Nadal returned to the court for an exhibition match at the Kooyong Classic. The Spaniard had also been battling a knee injury and had not played since the season- ending ATP Tour Finals in London. He withdrew from a warm-up tournament in Abu Dhabi and last week's Brisbane Interna- tional and had been concerned with his match fitness. "It was a good test for me and good practice," the 16-times grand slam winner told re- porters after his 6-4 7-5 loss in which he appeared to be mov- ing freely, if not a little rusty in his shotmaking. "I'm good and I am here so that's good news and my idea is just to keep practising the next couple of days to be ready for the beginning of the Austral- ian Open. Rafa Nadal Barcelona's Turan close to joining Turkey's Basaksehir BARCELONA midfielder Arda Turan is close to signing for Turkey's Basaksehir, the Istanbul club said in a state- ment yesterday. Turkish media reported that Barcelona will keep pay- ing half the player's salary but Basaksehir, who top the domestic standings, said there were still issues to solve. "Although we have agreed in principle on many issues, there are still some steps to be taken. My team is in talks with the player's agent and Barcelona club officials," club chairman Goksel Gumusdag said. "I hope they will come back with a positive result," he added. Since moving to the Nou Camp in 2015 in a 34 million euro (29.98 million pounds) deal from Atletico Madrid, Turkey international Turan has struggled to hold down a first-team place, scoring 19 goals in 53 appearances in all competitions. The 30-year-old has not played for Barcelona this sea- son. Arda Turan