349 days ago, Rafa Nadal lost against American Mackenzie Mcdonald at the Australian Open. Since then he has not taken the court in an individual match. A new injury stood between him and tennis again. A tortuous path that the Mallorcan had to travel to return to the starting point. Today there is a new opportunity to shine in the sport in which he is a legend. And the first course will be the Austrian Dominic Thiem, an old acquaintance whom he has already faced fifteen times.
Two days after feeling the touch of the court again in the dress rehearsal that marked his presence in the doubles tournament with his now coach Marc López, Nadal returns to the real scene, to the real competition in the individual table of Brisbane, the place chosen for the new starting point.
Rafael Nadal begins a new season that aims for the last, although with him such a thing can never be assured. Uncertainties and expectations overlap. But at the end of the road, Paris appears, with both Roland Garros and the Olympic Games as the most attractive challenges of the course.
So many times number one in the world, accumulated 209 weeks, Nadal returns submerged in the 672nd position in the ranking, so he goes to Brisbane as a guest. The Mallorcan gives luster with his presence to a minor tournament on the calendar, chosen by him to feel like a player again, for this new life that is granted after an injury to the iliac psoas of his left leg, after several attempts to return, a operation and many hours of recovery.
The confrontation against Dominic Thiem (not before 9:30 am) is a face to face full of incentives, with the appearance of a final, and which measures two players who touched glory in the not too distant past and who intend to rehabilitate to return to the highest levels. Both are in Brisbane after having shared the court in training sessions in recent days. The precedents, up to fifteen, indicate that Nadal won nine and the Austrian six. Although the Mallorcan always won the most important ones, such as two finals at Roland Garros and another final at the Masters 1000 in Madrid. Thiem has won the two most recent, both in 2020, in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the ATP Finals. Whoever wins will face the winner of the clash between the Russian Aslan Karatsev and the Australian guest Jason Kubler in the second round.
Nadal returns to the ring against a renowned rival, with a lustrous record and just as needy. A new race against time begins in 2024. Like so many other times, an injury temporarily cornered him, although none had been as profound as this one. Therefore, this may be the last dance of the best Spanish athlete in history.
