Rafa Nadal’s loss is a huge blow for the Australian Open. The presence of the former world number 1 is one of the great attractions of a tournament where Novak Djokovic will defend his title against the push of a wide range of candidates, with Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev at the helm.
Fortunately, the injury does not appear to be serious and everything indicates that he will be back soon. with the aim of continuing to accelerate the pace between February and March due to its main goal, to be fully competitive from April, when the clay court season begins.
His loss benefited the man who became the first reserve for the Australian Open, and can now enter the main draw without having to go through the previous stage. It’s about French Quentin Halys, who will occupy the place reserved by Nadal.
Rafa Nadal is back on the courts in Brisbane after an 11-month layoff due to injury. He did this with the sole purpose of getting into a competitive tone and scoring points on the court to prepare for the Australian Open. First, he wanted to dust off his forehand in a doubles match with Marc López that ended in a narrow loss. He again felt the butterflies in his stomach from the big days when he returned to Brisbane two days later in an individual draw, against Dominic Thiem.
In the first official match in the individual box, Rafa returned in a big way, with victory, albeit against another tennis player who is also in the process of getting back to what he was after a major injury. His feet were still on the ground, but he seemed excited, very happy to be able to fight at the level he did in his first fall.
Then came the second round against Kubler, which ended with another victory. “I feel competitive, that’s all I want. Now let’s see what happens and how far I can go,” said the Mallorcan before the spectators in an interview on the edge of the courts after winning 6-1 and 6-2. Nadal surges forward, with great emotion once again on display at the start. Nadal could have won that match, he wasted 3 set points in the second set. We went from seeing a big Rafa, with great points that lifted the audience from their seats, to keep growing, to seeing him lose the second set and, eventually, sitting complaining about a injury, went into the locker room with a 4-1 down. in the fight.third and last sleeve.
The specter of injuries has reappeared and the area seems to be the same as his big injury in 2023. “The pain is in the same place, but I think it’s more due to a muscle issue, of fatigue,” he said in first then the game, making it clear that this is not the same iliopsoas injury that forced him to undergo surgery in 2023.
Source: La Verdad
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