On the eve of debuting at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, Rafael Nadal knows he is far from his best physical shape. At a press conference, the 37-year-old Spanish tennis player, who has suffered from recurring injuries since January last year, declared that he does not guarantee participation in Roland Garros, in May. Nadal is the biggest winner in the history of the tournament held in Paris, one of four in the Grand Slam, with 14 titles. Madrid will be a good test for the player to assess whether or not he will be fit to play.
– I don’t know what will happen in the next three weeks. I will fight and do everything to try to play in Paris (Roland Garros). If I can, I play; If I can’t, I don’t play. I’m not going to play in Paris like I am today. This is the reality. I’ll play there if I feel capable of playing well – he said.
The Paris Olympics, on the other hand, are still in the sights of the former Spanish number 1 in the world:
– The world doesn’t end with Roland Garros, although it was the most important tournament of my career. There are still the Olympics ahead, different formats in which I can play.
In his debut in Madrid, this Thursday (25), Nadal will face a young American 21 years younger than him. Darwin Blanch is just 16 years old. When he was born, Nadal already had three titles at Roland Garros.
– It’s a huge age difference. I expect a young player with a lot of potential. I hope to go there and do what I have to do, and the first thing is to enjoy it and try to do the best I can. We’ll see how I’m doing, it’s anyone’s guess. I hope to be competitive enough to be able to fight tomorrow – commented the tennis player.
– I don’t think I can play 100%, but, look, it’s important to be able to play for the last time in Madrid. For me it means a lot to play on this court where I had some really good times.
Owner of 22 Grand Slam titles, Nadal has suffered from hip injuries since January 2023, when he began to feel pain at the Australian Open. He then missed Roland Garros, a tournament he won 14 times, because of an injury to the iliopsoas, the main hip flexor muscle, on the left side. As orthopedic doctor Ana Paula Simões explains in a column published in EU Atleta, the iliopsoas is a set of three muscles (iliac, psoas major and psoas minor) that work together to cause hip flexion, and this is a common injury in tennis players .
The injury sent him to the surgery table in June last year and ended the season for Nadal. In January of this year, Nadal returned at the ATP 250 in Brisbane, Australia. He beat Austrian Dominic Thiem and Australian Jason Kubler in the first two rounds, but suffered a small muscle tear in his hip – look at him again – in the third game, when he was defeated by Australian Jordan Thompson. And again the veteran champion had to step away from the courts.
Rafael Nadal announces his return to the courts in 2024
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