I looked Rafael Nadal I once fell while sitting on the stools above the stage. He shifted the microphone from one hand to the other, curling his fingers as he looked at his watch. All eyes were on him and the question was floating around the small press room. “Will he come back? When?” And the most successful Spanish tennis player in history was strong in front of the media, despite not wanting to make the deadline. “I don’t know when I’ll come back“, Nadal said with a half-smile. “I didn’t know if I would ever play tennis again and now I know I will. I’m happy with the way things are going.“, he admitted, regaining his optimism.

Rafa Nada wanted to be honest in front of the press: “I have nothing to hide from youhe defended, before revealing the point at which he was in recovery. A room filled to hear him listened to every sentence he said amidst the sound of flashes.

Although he does not want to reveal his return date, which he claims he does not know yet, there are some things he is clear about. Pain is indisputable. “It’s not going to go away. I’ve been playing through pain for years, it’s not new. The important thing is to do it with more or less limitations. From how things were going a few months ago to how they’re going so much better now, I’ve made great, positive steps forward.” We’ll learn more in the coming weeks. “But talking about tennis means talking about something else,” he said.

Last May, Rafa Nadal made the decision (or rather, his body made the decision) to stop. After injuring his psoas at the Australian Open on Feb. 18, his body was unable to recover in time to compete at Roland Garros, his favorite tournament on the calendar. Therefore, coolly analyzing his physical condition, he decided to take a break while announcing this. 2024 will be his last year in the professional circuit.

Months passed and Nadal practiced quietly. Hours and hours in the gym, constant and sometimes invisible work, and some surgical interventions, like the surgery he had in early June to control the left psoas injury that kept him out of competition.

No return date

“I’m still in pain, if it wasn’t for that I would think about something else. But I’m taking steps forward, I’m doing more and more things,” the tennis player said on October 20, months after the surgery. “I don’t train without pain. My first option is still Australia – the Open’s director has developed this himself, without the player having to say ‘ok’ – but I’m not in a position to confirm what will happen to my body in a few months. I hope to be able to step onto the court again as soon as possible.”

And that moment may come the next moment Australian OpenIt will take place from the 14th to the 28th of next January. In his presentation at the Teknon Tennis Clinic, Rafa Nadal talked about the last few months he lived and the process he followed to recover, and although it seemed like the most realistic date, he did not want to set a time for his return yet. She assured that getting injured is difficult and requires a lot of effort and perseverance.

He already warned 2024 would be his last year as a professional tennis player To complete his remarkable and historic career, the man from Manacor restarts the tournament where everything stopped. He was injured a year ago on the Australian circuit, which started a difficult year. Now, Eager to enter a court full of people again, he looks at the same scene with the desire to fight. For him and his tennis. We expect thousands of fans to eagerly watch the match, which they have enjoyed many times.

His farewell to the courts is getting closer, but the tennis player from Manacor wants to say goodbye by competing. To do this, he wants to once again take part in what could be his last dance, while still experiencing the pain in a tolerable way.