The Spanish world number three's 2014 campaign finished in late October as he underwent appendix surgery.
Nadal returned to action at the Mubadala World Championship and won his third-place play-off against Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 on Saturday.
The 28-year-old will play in Doha before the Australian Open begins on January 19 and he believes that is enough match practice.
"Experience says to me that [one week] is enough [preparation time in Melbourne]," Nadal told a news conference.
"If you have to be ready it is enough, if in one week you are not ready it's because it's not the right moment to be ready for it.
"When I had to be ready and was in good shape, every time one week was enough. When I was not ready, one week, two weeks will not be enough.
"So I will try and I'm working with that goal, to arrive in Australia in a condition of being competitive and then you never know."
Nadal had mixed results at the exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, thrashed by Andy Murray before his win over Wawrinka.
While he said results were of importance, Nadal talked up the need for match practice.
"The results of the matches are important. Winning matches is important but more than win or lose, because at the end you spend time and you compete," he said.
"When you compete you have more chance of being in better shape and always victories give you confidence but more than that it's trying to spend as much time on court and every match helps."