Rafael Nadal’s coach and uncle Toni has played down the idea that his nephew has a realistic chance of winning next year’s Australian Open, as he steps up his comeback from injury. The Spanish icon has not played professionally since the previous Grand Slam down under, but could be aiming for a return in January.
Tournament director Craig Tiley initially confirmed that “Rafa will be back” but the 22-time Major winner swiftly played down the idea that he would definitely be performing in Australia. “My first realistic option to be back on the professional court would be January in Australia,” Nadal explained.
“But right now, I really can’t confirm something I don’t know. Nothing has changed in the last few weeks except for the fact that I’m training a bit more than before, which is an accomplishment for me and my mental health.”
Any targets that Nadal would set himself ahead of a return have not been made public, but he won the tournament just two years ago and could feel that he has a chance of a deep run – should his fitness permit. However, Toni Nadal has insisted that unless a mass injury spree hits several of the sport’s top stars, his nephew should forget about winning.
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news
He told the Majorca Daily Bulletin: “He wants to play the Australian Open. I’ve seen him practising these last few days. He’s practising much better. Now what we need is an injury of [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Novak] Djokovic, and maybe [Daniil] Medvedev. We need them to have a lot of problems, then Rafa can play very good.”
Nadal has been spotted stepping up his training efforts as he looks to make a comeback in what is set to be a farewell season for the 37-year-old, having already confirmed that this would likely be his final year as a professional tennis player.
He underwent surgery on his hip in the summer and has been battling psoas and foot injuries also, admitting last month that he struggled to walk down the stairs in a concerning update.
Nadal has since offered a more promising prognosis, but is still in pain while on the court – perhaps one of the reasons why he has refused to confirm his participation at next year’s Australian open.
“I’m not training without pain. I’m in less pain than I used to be, but I’m still in pain,” he said. “However, this pain allows me to do more and more things eventually. Things would be different if I had zero pain. I could give you a date for my return if I had zero pain because I would have time to prepare myself for that.”