It was Wednesday January 18, 2023. Rafael Nadal She lost in the first round of the Australian Open against Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. A left iliac psoas injury plagued the Balearic player, who lost in three sets against the American.
Almost a year has passed since then and Nadal is ready to come back. He Brisbane 250 tournament welcome this Tuesday one of the most awaited moments for Rafa, his reappearance in an official individual match after many difficult months. After extending his possible return to 2023, without success due to persistent pain, Nadal underwent on his birthday in June, to solve the problem, focusing on the 2024 season.
It has arrived. He Brisbane 250 tournament announced this Monday morning the official schedule of Spanish debut. A special match that will have a special rival, a Dominic Thiem whom Nadal has reunited after many battles between the two in the past on big stages, with the memory of the two finals won by Rafa at Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019.
Nadal and Thiem They will play in the fourth round at the Pat Rafter Arena at the start of the Australian afternoon session. The match is scheduled to 9:30 Spanish peninsular time (Movistar Plus + and Tennis TV), as usual in the equivalents of the Australian tournaments. It will be a top-notch encounter between two players who, although more used to the battle between them on clay, will face each other this time on the hard court as they seek to regain their level.
Nadal warned that he would need time for this. is conscious Thiem with the difficulty of that challenge, after breaking his right wrist in Mallorca in 2021 and having had a lot of trouble since then to regain his best level. In fact, settled in the top10 at his best time, he was on the limit of the top100, 98th in the world at the age of thirty in his continued fight to show that he can return to where he belongs through tennis.
Because he maintains his awesome right, but keep trying to pick up speed on that retreat which wreaked havoc on the circuit but greatly reduced damage. He also tries to regain the confidence of the past, which he is looking for a Nadal who knows that acclimatization is important to try to reach their desired European spring competitively.
For this, nadal It has already been tested this Sunday with its official return, at doubles draw this Brisbane tournament. He fell to the side Marc López 6-4 and 6-4 against Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell, in a match where he left a good base to grow from the back of the court and where he suffered more when approaching the net. He hopes to continue to polish them against Thiem to keep the momentum going in the tournament.
This Tuesday no less sixteenth match on the circuit between Nadal and Thiem, with a record of 9-6 for the Spaniard. The four finals played between the two have gone a long way, with the Austrian as one of the main alternatives for years to Mallorca’s stellar dominance on clay. In fact, they haven’t met since the 2020 ATP Finals, when Thiem won 7-6(7) and 7-6(4) in the round robin. The Austrian leads 2-1 in the head-to-head on a hard court, though conditions have changed significantly since then for both. It was an emotional duel to start the year, with a ‘classic’ from previous years to launch Nadal’s return in 2024.
Source: La Verdad
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