Nadal plans to rest shoulder injury in February

Nadal will play the winner of a match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Ferrer in the semifinals on Friday.

He is hopeful his shoulder will hold up in Abu Dhabi where he will attempt to win the tournament for the third year in a row and in Doha, where he plans to play at the Qatar Open next week. After competing at the Australian Open beginning Jan. 16, the 25-year-old Spaniard said he would take February off to rest and practice.

While praising the dominance of No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic, who won three Grand Slams, Nadal blamed himself for allowing his play to become “too predictable” at times. But he insisted he wasn’t going to overhaul his game despite losing to Djokovic in six finals.

Nadal won the French Open, rallied Spain to victory in the Davis Cup final and finished 69-15 this season. He lost to Djokovic in the finals of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

“This is not the time to change many things. This is the time to keep playing well, to keep improving my tennis,” Nadal said. “I will just try and be competitive in all the tournaments. I was competitive in all the tournaments and was in three Grand Slam finals.”