Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal returns to the courts almost a year after his last match at the tournament in Brisbane, Australia, with the former world number one admitting this could be his last season.
Nadal, winner of 22 Grand Slams in his career, returned to competition this Sunday almost a year after his last match, at the 2023 Australian Open, where he suffered an injury to his left leg while playing with his coach Marc Lopez played in a colleagues match in Brisbane.
Nadal and Lopez were defeated by Australians Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell in a 6-4 doubles draw, as the Spaniard now prepares for his return to singles action, where he will face Austrian Dominic Thiem as his opponent in Brisbane.
“The problem when I say this will be my last season is that I can’t predict 100 percent what will happen in the future. That’s why I say probably. Obviously there is a large percentage that this will be my last season .” season here in Australia. But when I’m here next year, don’t tell me, ‘You said (this will be) your last season,’ because I didn’t say that,” Nadal said.
Nadal, 37, explained that he cannot predict what he will look like in the future and recalled the complicated process of returning to playing.
“I can’t predict if my body will allow me to enjoy tennis as much as I have for the past 20 years. I don’t know if my body will allow me to be competitive. Not in the sense of winning big events, but in the sense that it makes me happy, feels competitive, goes to the field and feels like I can compete with anyone,” he explained.
Source: DN
