Tennis: “I’m not going to catch up with Djokovic”… What to expect from Rafael Nadal’s return to competition?

The Spaniard announced the date of his return on Friday. He will be present at the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane (Australia) in January, almost a year after his last official match.

After announcing the imminence of his return two weeks ago, Rafael Nadal revealed the date, Friday December 1, on which he will return to the courts via a video posted on X (formerly Twitter). The former world number one, now 663rd in the ATP rankings, will participate in the tournament ATP 250 in Brisbane, Australia, which will take place from December 31 to January 7, almost a year after his last official match. “If he announces it, it’s because he has certain certainties”assures Arnaud Clément, consultant for Franceinfo: sport.

Rafael Nadal is already preparing the ground by avoiding creating too high expectations. “I’m not going to win more Grand Slams than Novak Djokovic (who has 24, against 22 for Rafael Nadal), but I’m going to give myself the opportunity to have fun again. I’m training, I’m happy”, warned the Spaniard on November 15 during a press briefing. It must be said that a big question mark surrounds the state of fitness of the “Bull of Manacor”. The latter has not set foot on a court since January 2023 and an injury to the ilio-psoas of his left leg at the Australian Open.

A modified program and lowering ambitions?

Above all, the physical problems follow one another for those who are also affected by a degenerative and irreversible disease, Müller-Weiss syndrome. “It causes compression of the navicular bone which will lead to its necrosis, that is to say its death”described surgeon Gilbert Versier in June 2022. At the time, the specialist explained to Franceinfo: sport that Rafael Nadal’s pathology was not found “not at an advanced stage”, since it would simply prevent him from playing. The question is to what level the 37-year-old will return.

For exemple, one of his biggest rivals, Roger Federer, experienced a similar situation in 2016 with a knee injury that sidelined him for six months. The Swiss, 35 years old at the time, made a triumphant return at the Australian Open by beating Rafael Nadal. “Rafa” will make his return with two more years on the clock and after an absence twice as long. “I don’t think he has in mind the idea of ​​becoming world number one again”judge Arnaud Clément.

“A return to the top is difficult to imagine.”

Arnaud Clément, former world number 8

franceinfo: sport

2024 could be the last season of his career. He made this hypothesis himself last September. “L’idea is not to come back to win Roland-Garros or the Australian Open”, he assured. “It will be secondary for him”, adds Arnaud Clément. Our consultant imagines a step-by-step return, via a program designed to resume after a long period of unavailability, totally contrary to his habit of carrying out full seasons.

“What seems difficult to imagine is that he could schedule an entire season on clay as he has almost always done.” Arnaud Clément does not see him completing Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Rome and Roland-Garros in two months, but rather going to South America in February, before Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo. Less hampered by injuries, Novak Djokovic himself agreed to scale back in 2023, despite the lifting of restrictions linked to Covid-19, to spare his 36-year-old body.

The 2024 program will also include the Paris Olympic Games, the tournament of which will take place at Roland-Garros. A double dose of Rafael Nadal on clay which allowed him to write part of his legend and a nice symbol for Arnaud Clément. After all, the Mallorcan is reaching the twilight of his career. Whether he stops it in a year or later, the opportunities to see him tread the Parisian ocher are no longer legion.