“Pain never goes away”
Rafael Nadal attacks one last time after a year of suffering
December 24, 2023, 4:35 p.m
The return of the king: After almost a year out due to injury, Rafael Nadal wants to do it one last time on the tour in the new year. Can the Spanish tennis legend attack the big titles again in the autumn of his career? The old master has two big goals.
Rafael Nadal has suffered a lot. The nasty pain in the hip flexors, the torment in rehab, the work on the training field. Days turned into weeks, weeks eventually turned into months. “I thought in many moments that it made no sense to continue,” says Nadal – and yet it did.
Almost a year after the serious injury, the 22-time Grand Slam winner is finally looking forward to his comeback on the tennis tour. In Brisbane (December 31st to January 7th) Nadal wants to serve again under competitive conditions. And then compete in the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open – of all places where the suffering began in January.
The Spaniard fought painfully in the second round against the American Mackenzie McDonald. The hip flexor failed him. Nadal doubled over, staggered across the court and lost easily in three sets. This was followed by an operation on his birthday and a break that lasted significantly longer than initially expected. And that still has an impact today.
“Don’t finish in a press room”
“The pain will never go away,” Nadal recently said on social networks, and he will probably no longer catch up with Novak Djokovic, who has now replaced him as the Grand Slam record winner with 24 major titles. Which raises the question of why the 37-year-old, who has suffered from severe foot problems in the past, is actually still doing all this to himself.
“I would like to end it differently, not in a press room,” Nadal explained. He fought “to keep this vision alive” and now it is “finally time.” Time for the clay court king to return to the big stage. He showed up again and again in training matches at the Rafael Nadal Academy – including with German number two Jan-Lennard Struff. But can it also be a triumphant return?
First of all, probably not. Nadal himself curbed the euphoria as a precaution. “I expect from myself that I don’t expect anything,” he said slightly cryptically, speaking of “unexplored territory” and a “difficult” start. The Australian hard courts should initially only serve as a benchmark on the way to higher goals.
Nadal leaves a back door open
Nadal should be aiming for his top level again by early summer at the latest. The temptations of the new season are simply too great not to attack again. At Nadal’s absolute favorite tournament, the French Open, he wants to grab the historic title number 15 in June – before the tennis competitions of the Olympic Games in Paris take place at the same location at the Stade Roland Garros.
The second individual gold awaits after Beijing 2008 and – possibly alongside his designated successor Carlos Alcaraz (20) – the second double triumph after Rio 2016. And even if it is no longer enough for a major title: Nadal is dreaming of a sportingly significant farewell tour the biggest courts in the tennis world. Unlike his injury-hit ex-rival Roger Federer, who at the end of his career only had a few highly emotional matches at the Laver Cup.
At the end of 2024, Nadal will finally come to an end. The Spaniard himself believes that – and still keeps a loophole open in case things go better than expected. “Why should I set a limit for myself?” he asked recently. Rafael Nadal does not allow the end of his career to be forced on him, especially not by his aging body.