Tennis: Rafael Nadal’s comeback could add a layer of intrigue to a sport slowly moving into the future | Tennis News
Perhaps the most startling of Rafael Nadal’s achievements – even more so than the ridiculous haul of 14 French Open titles – was the 912 consecutive weeks he spent in the top 10 of the world rankings. Second-best on that l in men’s tennis is Jimmy Connors, with 788.Nadal played his first competitive match in nearly a year at the Brisbane International on Sunday, losing his first-round doubles tie in straight sets. The singles tournament will start in the coming week, where his first opponent is 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem. His participation in Brisbane is a tune up for the Australian Open, in what could be his final trip down under as a competitor.
The Spaniard has been in this position so many times before that crippling injury woes are as much his trademark as his lasso-like spinning forehand. Particularly in the later stages of his career, he has had to start and restart, without any momentum, on demand, relentlessly.
The Aussies prevail 🇦🇺
In Nadal’s first match since January 2023, Purcell & Thompson defeat Rafa & Marc Lopez 6-4 6-4!#BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/lZmUF0pBE6
— Tennis TV (@TennV) December 31, 2023
That is precisely what makes his 18-year-long run (2005-2023) among the top 10 athletes of a brutally physical, relentless sport one of his great achievements. Despite the constant injury trouble, Nadal was able to keep himself just fit enough to reach the latter stages of the Majors and win them, and dominate the clay season, for over a decade.
That is also precisely what makes his attempts at another comeback even more daunting. Following a hip flexor injury at the 2023 Australian Open, Nadal is yet to step on court for a competitive singles match, a period where his ranking plummeted to World No. 670. Since 2021 alone, Nadal’s medical hory will make most hospitals purr. The chronic foot injury that he has suffered since 2005 flared up, causing him to get surgery, and later to play with pain-numbing injections en route to another French Open title. Outside of that, he has contended with a broken rib, a torn abdominal muscle, back trouble, and a hip flexor problem.
With one full year out, uncertainty surrounds his return. He has not set a date for the end – on different occasions he has said he may not even last half the year, and may even play in 2025. But what has been consent in his tone of messaging has been his tempering of expectations, vocalising his uncertainty about the level he will be able to produce.
“I expect from myself not to expect anything. This is the truth. To have the ability not to demand myself what I have demanded myself throughout my career. I believe I’m in a different moment, in a different situation and in an unexplored terrain,” he said in a video he posted on social media earlier this month.
Reflexes on point ⚡️@RafaelNadal #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/4N6kDE5aTM
— Tennis TV (@TennV) December 31, 2023
However, the most clear-cut insight into his psyche was given his long-time rival. “He’s not a kind of a player who will come back to the tour just to play, let’s say, on a medium level, play a few matches,” Novak Djokovic said during an exhibition in Riyadh last week. “He wants to win titles, he wants to be the best. I’m sure his training and preparation is done with an intention to win a Grand Slam.”
There remains little doubt that Nadal will restart in 2024 hoping to script another fairytale, especially at his favourite hunting ground in Paris in the summer. But he will not only have to do so after circumstances he has never faced before, but also at a time when the sport has shown its first signs of moving on from him, of forging rivalries of the future as opposed to obsessing over rivalries of the past.
Shaking up the status quo
The GOAT debate – now feeling more like a marketing gimmick and less about genuine sporting intrigue – is well and truly settled after Djokovic spent another year breaking more records in Nadal’s absence, asserting his supremacy over the sport. At the same time, a fresh talent was busy announcing himself on the big stage.
With his neat blend of daring and attacking play, wild athleticism, and personal charisma, Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old World No. 2 from Spain, created a level of excitement among tennis fans that few prodigies have in the past, lifting him into stardom before his career even took off at the big stage. But he made sure that discrepancy did not last long.
Backhand goes *bang*@RafaelNadal #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/R42ST05rO1
— Tennis TV (@TennV) December 31, 2023
His come-from-behind win over Djokovic at the Wimbledon final was far the tennis event of the year, followed the other editions of the duo’s trilogy of epic contests. It not only elevated his status as a genuine contender, but also lit the fire under Djokovic to stay competitive and keep going. With young challengers like Alcaraz, and also World No. 4 Jannik Sinner, the Serb, alongside the sport at large, can move forward rather than look backward.
The screenplay of men’s tennis in 2023 was about Djokovic taking sole occupation of the throne, and Alcaraz announcing his intentions as his potential equal. If Nadal returns to his best, the screenplay in 2024 could be about his attempts to reclaim the throne.
To do so he will have to scale a peak even he has yet to, at a time when the tour is a lot more competitive than it was during his previous comeback. Despite the uncertainty, though, the prospect remains mouthwatering.
