The Majorcan returning to the Mubadala Championship, a luxury performance with Murray, Rublev, Shapovalov and Evans, an important test for his injured foot. Forfeit of Thiem
It is the classic luxury exhibition, a first of the new season even if the “old” one has just finished. The Mubadala World Tennis Championship, from today to Saturday in Abu Dhabi, returns after the cancellation due to last year’s pandemic. Between expected returns, such as that of Rafa Nadal, and last-minute renunciations such as that of Dominic Thiem, we take the field on the hard courts of the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex. In addition to Nadal, winner of the last edition, there will also be the Russian Andrey Rublev, the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the American Taylor Fritz, the English Daniel Evans and the Scottish Andy Murray.
Rublev and Nadal will enter the scene on Friday, on the occasion of the semifinals that will decide the two finalists who will play the title on Saturday. A female performance is also scheduled between Ons Jabeur, number 10 in the world ranking, and the Swiss Belinda Bencic, number 23 in the ranking. Jabeur took over from Emma Raducanu, the British champion of the US Open, stopped by Covid.
Curiosity Rafa
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All eyes will be on Rafa Nadal, practically stopped from the Roland Garros semifinal lost to Novak Djokovic except for an attempt to return to the ATP 500 in Washington. The 20 Grand Slam champion had to be treated for a flare-up of Muller-Weiss syndrome that first hit him in the foot in 2005.
In September, Rafa underwent a small cleaning operation on his left foot and there were fears of his return in January. But Nadal, scrupulously following the directives of the doctors, has slowly returned to full capacity and that of Abu Dhabi will be a first fundamental verification: “I had some doubts – he said a few days ago during the Montecarlo Boat Show – but I know the process , I have been through it several times. It is true that as I get older it becomes more difficult, but I am very excited about what it takes to get back into the game. So even if with some doubts I am confident that I will be able to return to play without feeling much pain. I’ll have my chance. “
After this first test, the southpaw king of clay will miss the ATP Cup to fly directly to Melbourne, where from January 3 he will play the ATP 250 in the city of the Australian Open. Rafa in Australia has never collected too much satisfaction. of his 20 Grand Slam titles only one comes from Australia, won in 2009 by beating Federer.
December 15 – 10:56 pm
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