American Andy Roddick will put behind him a season dogged by illness to launch the new year with the defence of his Brisbane International title starting on Sunday.

Roddick, 28, believes he is finally his old self again after fighting a bout of mononucleosis, an infectious viral illness, which restricted him to just two titles in 2010.

The2003 US Open cham-pion and three-time Wimbledon finalist flew into Brisbane four days before the other tournament top seeds to practise ahead of the newyear's first tournament on the road to January's Australian Open in Melbourne.

"I definitely didn't feel well prepared for the last little bit of last year and it showed," Roddick said.