Australian Open director Craig Tiley confirmed this Wednesday Double champion of the tournament, Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal, returns to the courts in Melbourne For the 2024 championship.
“We can exclusively announce that Rafa will be back. He’s been away for most of the year and we’ve spoken to him over the last few days, he’s confirmed he’ll be back (at the Australian Open), which we’re really excited about.” about. Unbelievable. ” Tiley declared on the “Today” show on Australian television Channel 9.
The director emphasized that Nadal, who previously announced that the next season may be his last season in tennis, will “go out on the court to win” as he did in 2009 and 2022. 37-year-old Nadal “doesn’t come to the tournament unless he thinks he can win”. “He’s going to show up to win, not just play,” Tiley said of the 22-time Grand Slam winner. Like Japan’s Naomi Osaka and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.
The next Australian Open will begin on Sunday, January 14, and will run for fifteen days, one day longer than in previous seasons, to relieve players from the burden of matches and excessive schedules. A change that the tournament itself considers “historic”.
Nadal played his last official match on January 18 and lost to American Mackenzie McDonald in the second round of the Australian Open with sets of 6-4, 6-4 and 7-5. He was seen training on the tennis court at his academy last week. He is in Manacor (Mallorca) after his hip surgery at the beginning of last June, in the video he published on his social network Instagram account. Here you can see Nadal getting back to forehands and backhands from the back of the court as part of training and thinking about his return to competition.