Nadal left recent clues with a video on his Instagram account in which he is seen training at a certain pace. He hits from the back of the court in a work session at his Academy in Manacor. It is an image that has not been seen since last May, when Rafa announced that he was taking a long break to recover from his iliopsoas problem. He suffered the injury in January, during the second round of the Australian Open against the American McDonald. It is the only tournament he has played this season. To recover from those problems, he tried conservative treatment that did not work (he had already suffered the same injury to the right side, also in Melbourne, in 2018 and returned after two and a half months) and the resignations began. Goodbye to the hard court tour, goodbye to the first clay court tournaments and goodbye to Roland Garros. He then announced that he would not play again until 2024. He even underwent surgery because a long break was not enough either.
The evolution of the injury allowed him to imagine a hypothetical return in November in the final phase of the Davis Cup in Malaga. Or at least be part of the team captained by David Ferrer. Spain’s failure to qualify for the final round postponed his comeback even further.
In a recent interview on Movistar, Rafa gave more clues: “If suddenly I’m perfect and I feel like continuing. I don’t know if it’s going to be my last year if my body recovers and I feel strong enough to continue. I live day to day.” with the hope of giving me the opportunity to have the option to decide. My physique and my head will tell me.” “My dream is to play again, to be competitive again, not to win at Roland Garros or in Australia,” he said.
And there, in Australia, is where the news that the entire circuit and that all of Spanish sport was waiting for has come out. Nadal plans to compete in next year’s first Grand Slam to be held in Melbourne from January 14 to 28. The “in charge” of the announcement has been Craig Tiley, the director of the first Grand Slam of the course. Tiley has assured on an Australian television program that he has had conversations with Rafa… in which the left-hander has shown his intention to compete in Melbourne. “We will have the return of some legends, some champions who have been away for a couple of years. Of course, we can exclusively reveal that Rafa will return to Melbourne. He has been out of the circuit for most of the year, and I have been talking with him in recent days. He confirmed to me that he will be back next year, which excites us all. It’s incredible, great news,” said Tiley. And it will not be the only return, the tournament will also feature the reappearance of Nick Kyrgios, one of the local idols.
2023-10-10 23:49:11
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