(CNN) — Rafael Nadal made his lengthy-awaited harm comeback on Sunday, taking part in in his initial match since January when he took to the court docket with doubles associate Marc Lopez at the Brisbane Global – and he did not rule out continuing to play soon after the 2024 period.
Despite the fact that the Spanish pair missing 6-4 6-4 to Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, Nadal unleashed some powerful winners, moving far more freely all-around the court docket immediately after going through hip surgery to address the harm that forced him to miss out on most of final time.
The 22-time grand slam winner has battled a collection of injuries of late and mentioned in May possibly that 2024 will very likely be his previous calendar year on tour but, on Sunday, he did not rule out continuing earlier this day.
“The difficulty about declaring it’s heading to be my final time is that I simply cannot forecast what is going on 100% in the long term. That’s the detail,” Nadal claimed ahead of his comeback match, according to Reuters. “That’s why I say in all probability.
“It’s apparent it is a substantial proportion that it’s heading to be my final time participating in in Australia. But if I’m right here subsequent calendar year, never inform me, ‘You mentioned it’s going to be your last period,’ since I didn’t say it,” he added.
“You hardly ever know what’s going on, you know? I simply cannot predict how I’m heading to be in the future 6 months. I can not predict if my overall body will allow for me to take pleasure in tennis as significantly as I relished the earlier 20 several years.”
Some of Nadal’s rivals, which includes Holger Rune and Andy Murray, have noted the “intensity” with which he is actively playing, but the 37-calendar year-previous performed down their responses.
“If you ask my colleagues how I truly feel, they will not arrive listed here and say, ‘Rafa is playing like disaster’,” he explained, for each the Brisbane Global website.
“I sense what they explained (does) have not considerably worth due to the fact, of program, you request me how they are enjoying, I will say they’re actively playing terrific far too. You will not communicate unfavorable points about colleagues.”
Nadal will make his singles comeback on Tuesday, dealing with previous world No. 3 Dominic Thiem in the very first spherical at the Brisbane Intercontinental, a match typically made use of by gamers preparing for the Australian Open up.
The Spaniard will then make his grand slam return at the Australian Open up, a tournament he has received 2 times and which commences on January 14.
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