Will Rafa Nadal play again on the same stage where he played the last match? According to the director of the Australian Open, Craig Tiley, from the conversations he has had with the Balearic tennis player in recent days, it is clear that this will be the case. “I will give an exclusive. Rafa Nadal will return to Melbourne, which we are very excited about, as he is the champion in 2022. It is incredible”, revealed the executive on the Nine Network's The Today Show. And he added: “I wouldn't come to the tournament unless I thought I could win it. He will not show up just to play, but he will show up to win." The player's response came a few hours later via social media and in English. He curbed his euphoria and opted for prudence, but he also showed hope. "I appreciate the vote of confidence from the Australian Open... I train every day and work hard to come back as soon as possible."
The Australian great will be played from January 14 to 28, 2024. The 37-year-old has not played a match since losing in the second round at Melbourne Park on January 18 to Mackenzie McDonald. He injured his hip flexors that day and has been fighting to recover ever since.
On Wednesday of last week, he was already seen while training at his academy in Manacor. It was the first time in recent months that he appeared publicly with a racket in his hand. The images and words of the director of the Australian Open fuel the feeling that the return to the Christmas courts is on the right track. Despite the fact that one of the people closest to the manacorí, such as his head of press, Benito Pérez-Barbadillo, also prefers to keep his feet on the ground. In this sense, he says that there is still nothing to announce about the return of Christmas, nor a specific date that is marked as a goal. The final decision has not yet been made.
The Balearic tried to prepare as much as he could to compete in the last edition of Roland Garros, because at first he thought he would return in eight weeks, but when he couldn't do it, he held a press conference on May 18. At the appearance he announced that he would stop for a few months, that he would try to return at the end of 2023 or at the beginning of 2024 and that next year would, in principle, be the last of his sports career. The desire of the Balearic is to feel competitive again and to be able to at least say goodbye to the big tournaments and compete in Paris for his fourth Games. He was Olympic singles champion in Beijing 2008 and gold in doubles together with Marc López in Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Nadal underwent hip surgery on June 2 at the Teknon clinic in Barcelona. The operation, "arthroscopically", was carried out by doctors Marc Philippon, Jaume Vilaró and Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro and lasted two and a half hours. Then, a period of medical leave of around five months was estimated.
The period ends at the beginning of November, a month that should be key to weighing whether the Christmas recovery enters a final phase. Then, his workloads would increase.
From the environment of the tennis player, it is considered that next month it will be possible to really determine whether the manacorí will be available to play in Australia or even in the preparatory tournaments, which would allow him to arrive with a little filming at the big Aussie event . Depending on how the hip responds, it will be opted for this or to delay the reappearance.
During this time out, Nadal dropped out of the top 100 for the first time in 20 years and has fallen to 240th in the world rankings, but is eligible for a protected ranking after being out of competition due to injury for more than six months He has always said that he does not want to say goodbye to the courts just for the sake of it, but wants to be competitive and fight for important victories until the moment he decides to hang up the racket for good.
Whether his comeback is in Australia or later, the Balearic is making good on his promise, that he would fight as always to get back on track.
