Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after winning a point during his men's singles match against Peter Gojowczyk of Germany at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic
Nadal, who recently underwent laparoscopic appendectomy, is at the ninth place with $44.5 million. In the 2014 season, Nadal has won four titles and took home more than $6 million prize money. In June, he won his ninth French Open title. Nadal has current deals with Nike, Babolat, Mapfre, Kia Motors, Poker Stars, Mueller, and more. Reuters

Rafael Nadal is confident that he will be ready in time for the Australian Open next year after undergoing a surgery for his appendicitis that he previously announced to have during the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The world no. 3 has returned to training and practicing for the first time after his appendectomy but he admitted that he will be starting the next season from scratch after missing the ATP World Tour Finals in London last month to give way for his surgery on Nov. 3.

The 14-time grand slam champion, who was sidelined for quite a while last season because he suffered from knee, back and wrist injuries, is now bouncing back after he started his training on Monday. The Spaniard posted a picture on his Facebook which revealed that he already started training again. Rafael Nadal is eyeing the upcoming events in Abu Dhabi and Doha at the beginning of 2015 as an opportunity to improve his game before he competes at the Australian Open on Jan 19.

"It's always a bit tough starting off after a few difficult months, without any continuity and after the last month and half without being able to play any sport and the appendicitis," the 28-year-old claimed. "What I have to do this month is to get myself fit physically, progress my tennis as much as possible and lay the foundations to start well in Abu Dhabi and in Doha."

Nadal further claimed that he will take advantage of the earlier tournaments to regain the competitiveness that he did not have for the past few months due to a series of injuries. Thus far, Rafael Nadal's sole Australian Open victory was in 2009 but he finished runner-up to the world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in 2012 and qualified and faced Stan Wawrinka during the finals this year.

Nadal said via USA Today that he is very happy to be training again and he is excited for the upcoming season. He reiterated the importance of feeling right physically and claimed that with how the things are going on now, he will arrive in Australia well prepared.

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