Despite lacking almost all of 2023 resulting from a hip damage requiring surgical procedure, Rafael Nadal is assured about returning to competitors and has introduced that he’ll quickly unveil his comeback plans.
Nadal wrote Thursday on social media, “I confirmed yesterday I’ll be again,” and punctuated that message with a smiling emoji.
“Stay tuned,” he continued in the Instagram post, which included a photograph of him about to hit a backhand. He said that in the coming days he will “resolve and announce with my group when and the place” everybody can count on to see him in motion.
Next season begins in late December, with the 12 months’s first main match, the Australian Open, scheduled to start main-draw matches on Jan. 14.
“For the world of tennis, there isn’t any doubt that it’s wonderful news that he’ll be again,” Novak Djokovic stated on the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
Nadal, whose 22 Grand Slam singles titles rank second to Djokovic’s 24 for essentially the most amongst males, has not performed on tour since final January, when he harm his hip flexor throughout a loss to Mackenzie McDonald within the second spherical of the Australian Open.
In May, somewhat greater than per week earlier than the beginning of his beloved French Open, Nadal introduced that he would miss the match; he has gained a report 14 occasions and was not precisely certain when he would possibly return to play.
He stated then that he hoped to compete in 2024, which he anticipated to be his closing season.
“You never know how things will turn out,” Nadal said at a news conference at the time, “however my intention is that subsequent 12 months can be my final 12 months.”
He wound up having arthroscopic surgical procedure in June in Barcelona.
Dating to the top of 2022, the 37-year-old Spanish left-hander has misplaced seven of his previous 9 matches, together with going 1-3 this season.
With Roger Federer, who gained 20 majors, having introduced his retirement in 2022 and Nadal lacking a lot of this 12 months, Djokovic was the one member of the so-called Big Three of males’s tennis who was lively all through 2023, and the 36-year-old from Serbia was dominant, notably on the Grand Slam tournaments. He gained the Australian Open, French Open and U.S. Open and reached the ultimate at Wimbledon.
“I think it would be nice for the sport to have at least one more match between Nadal and me. That’s the biggest rivalry in terms of the amount of matches played that this sport ever had. Hopefully that can happen,” Djokovic said. “He’s a giant warrior. He’s anyone that basically by no means provides up. With all of the accidents that he had, retains going. That’s undoubtedly one thing that it’s a must to respect and admire about him and his spirit.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com