Spaniard Rafael Nadal announced this Friday that he is back on the international tennis circuit. The 22-time Grand Slam champion decided that he will return to the courts, after a year off to treat injuries, at the tournament in Brisbane, Australia, in January 2024.
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The ATP 250 in Brisbane, which opens the 2024 season, takes place between on December 31st and January 8th, and features a 32-player men’s singles bracket.
The tournament serves as preparation for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, which takes place in Melbourne between January 14th and 28th.
With this, the announcement was made on the tennis player’s social networks. At 37 years of age, Nadal has spent almost an entire season without acting – he played two matches at the Australian Open before interrupting the season, which dropped him to number 663 in the rankings.
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The repeated injuries raised suspicions that the 14-time Roland Garros champion would no longer be physically capable of competing professionally. But he tried to put an end to doubts by confirming his return to Australia.
“I don’t think I deserve to end like this. I trained and prepared a lot all my life so that my goodbye wouldn’t happen at a press conference. I’m going to work hard to finish my career in the right way. After a year out of the circuit, I think that this is the right time to return. I am ready to announce that I will be back in Brisbane in the first week of the season,” Nadal said in the video.
It’s worth remembering that Rafael Nadal hasn’t taken the court since January 18, when he was eliminated in the second round of the Australian Open. He had been turning down tournament invitations ever since.
The Spaniard is the second biggest winner of Grand Slams, with 22 titles. Unable to defend his points in the ATP (Tennis Professionals Association) world rankings, Nadal appeared outside the top 100 for the first time in 20 years. The tennis player fell from 15th to 136th position. Since April 2003 he has not been among the hundred players.