Rafael Nadal smiles in Brisbane, feted by the Australian fans and happy to get where he wanted to go: finally, the long-awaited return. Almost a year has passed since his body broke for the last time and forced him to return to the Stations of the Cross, exposed for the umpteenth time to the crossroads: to continue or not to continue, to make or not to make one last attempt to close the long journey as he intended, above all. the courts, rallying and, above all, competing, which at the end of the day is what has always motivated him to exert that extra effort that sets him apart. “I don't think I deserve to say goodbye at a press conference, I want my ending to be different,” he said in May in Manacor. And here he is again, burning the soles of his shoes and punishing the ball. He celebrates tennis, the sport; not so much (behind closed doors) his rivals, bewildered: Which Nadal will they meet now? What is the real magnitude of the threat? After another tough rehabilitation and readaptation process, the Spanish tennis player is preparing for the 37-year-old, which is seen as his last adventure, in a return with few certainties and multiple unknowns.
From the outset, it is known that he will reappear this Sunday in Brisbane, where he will play a doubles match together with one of his coaches, Marc López, according to information provided by the newspaper. Ace; Two days later, on Tuesday, he will take part for the first time individually – against a player from the previous phase – in an event in which his true current state can be better gauged. From there, everything is illusions and conjectures, the desire to be able to play and say goodbye, battling against the cold scale of reality. They are all questions. Beyond the plans outlined by him and his team, his day-to-day life and physical deterioration will delimit the route, which always draws a red circle at the Roland Garros station. 2024 will also include the Paris Olympic festival, but any prediction that extends beyond the immediate present seems audacious. Not even Nadal himself knows very well what awaits him or what the attempt will bring him.
“There is nothing impossible, but being here is already a victory,” he introduced this Friday during an event in the center of Brisbane, where a crowd of fans cheered him on. “I can't set very long-term goals, because I don't see myself playing for a long time. I don't know how things will go, but on my mind is trying to be more and more competitive as the season progresses. Now it is very early, you never know what is going to happen,” continued the Spaniard, who in mid-January (from the 14th to the 28th) will compete, if the roadmap does not suffer setbacks, in the Australian Open; “I am not one of those who tries to predict what is going to happen in the short term and even less so in the medium term, but I know how I should approach this process. It's about accepting adversity and knowing that things aren't going to be perfect at first, keeping yourself with the right attitude and the right work spirit every day; Only then will I have the opportunity to return to the position I intended to be in before the tournament.”
Nadal says that the option of winning a trophy – he has 92 on the ATP circuit – or of being able to close the gap on Novak Djokovic – two majors ahead of the Serbian, 24-22 – is today a utopia. The last one was raised in May 2022, at Roland Garros. He has not played a game since last January 18, when he ruptured his iliopsoas tendon, and later, in June, he had to undergo surgery to undergo surgery on said muscle and also for an old hip problem. From there, this last reconstruction.
“I can not complain. “I feel much better than I expected a month ago, but right now it is impossible to think that I can win tournaments,” says the man from Manacor, who returned to the training courts in October and has been increasing his work rate progressively. , without being able to really force the machine until the last month. In any case, once they gave him the green light he began to step on the accelerator and completed a program in which he has combined quantity with quality. The promising Arthur Fills (French, 19 years old, 36th in the world), the veteran Richard Gasquet and the emerging Holger Rune, among others, corroborate the good feelings obtained in recent days by the Spaniard, who played at home and also in the facilities from his academy in Kuwait before flying to Australia.
Paris in the background
Nadal rebuilds himself stone by stone, aware that at this point and after so much time in the reserve it will not be easy to get on that train that is moving at full speed in which adversaries like Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Yannik Sinner or Daniil Medvedev await. Time and age do not forgive, and the desire to achieve the competitiveness and regularity that he craves requires him to rehearse with live fire from the beginning; no probatinas or friendly scenarios; trail from the beginning. Despite being of a smaller profile, a fourth category tournament, the Brisbane poster (ATP 250) includes major tennis players who battle among the top 50 on the circuit; To the name of Rune (number eight) are added others such as Dimitrov, Shelton, Korda, Karatsev or the irreducible Andy Murray, and Nadal's current circumstance offers him no escape. Relegated to position 672—which forces him to resort to ranking protected or to ask for invitations to access tournaments—you will encounter considerable obstacles from the first rounds.
“I always expect the most from him. He is not the type of professional who comes back just to play at an average level or play a few games, but he wants to win and be the best; That's why he is who he is, a legend of our sport. I am sure that his preparation is focused on winning a Grand Slam,” says Djokovic, 36 years old. The Murcian Alcaraz, 20, shares the impression. “I think he is ready. I have seen some videos of him training and I see him one hundred percent. I have heard from other players who have trained with him in recent weeks and they say that he is going to get back to his level, so I think he is ready to do great things this year.” And the analytical voice of the British Tim Henman, now a commentator, also sounds in the background. “He needs to play many games, compete and suffer on the court; He hasn't done that for too long, but if he manages to avoid injuries, on the gravel tour he is capable of anything. If he is here again it is because he wants to win more Grand Slams and as long as he is active, he will always be the favorite in Paris.”
All the lights shine towards the Bois de Boulogne, whether in June (Roland Garros) or August (Olympic Games). However, the route to the Parisian double station is today a vast field of questions. Specialists agree that Nadal is capable of sharpening and recovering the lost space relatively quickly, as he has already demonstrated in recent comebacks; There is no doubt about his extreme ability to regenerate his game nor about his deep conviction, accentuated in this final stretch of his career. However, skepticism grows when the physical factor is mentioned. Over the past few years, setbacks have been repeated and the ghost has never gone away.
“I've been doing this almost all my life, so it's impossible not to miss the feeling of competing, jumping onto a court full of fans and traveling to the best tournaments in the world,” says the Mallorcan in Brisbane; “Perhaps what I have missed most is the feeling of feeling that I am prepared to compete and ready to enjoy the challenge.” He begins the journey, but the itinerary and when and where he will end is unknown.
“HIS INTENSITY IS INCREDIBLE”
A.C.
The organization of the Brisbane tournament held the draw for the individual draw this Saturday, but the name of Nadal's opponent was left up in the air. The Balearic tennis player will face a player from the qualifying phase on Tuesday – at a time to be determined – although he still does not know who it will be. Of course, he already knows that he could only run into the top seed, the Danish Rune, in a hypothetical final.
Precisely, the Nordic made some very graphic statements after sharing a training session with him. “He hit hard and when we started with the points, I thought he moved very well, that he went from one side to the other very quickly. His intensity is incredible. “I had a very intense preseason and a very intense end of the season last year, and I would say that this has probably been the hardest training I have had in the last half of the year,” Rune said.
Before facing individual commitment, Nadal will rehearse in doubles. He and Marc López will face the locals Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson this Sunday, around 8:00 (Movistar+).
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