Nadal Hopes To Return From Injury For Barcelona Open
His one outing since Brisbane was in an exhibition fight against Carlos Alcaraz in Las Vegas in March where observers detected significant stiffness in his back.
Rafael Nadal hopes to be able to make his return from injury at next week’s Barcelona Open, the 22-time Grand Slam champion said on Wednesday.
“First training… with the hope of being here these days before the commencement of the tournament. I’m here to see how it goes…
with the urge to attempt to play,” wrote Nadal on social media, alongside an image of the Spaniard sitting courtside with his rackets.
But he did went on to add: “Important to stress that I don’t want to confirm that I will play, hopefully I will.”
Last Thursday, 37-year-old Nadal was forced to withdraw from the Monte Carlo Masters after not recuperating in time from injury to play the clay court season opener.
The record 14-time French Open winner missed practically all of the 2023 season through injury and has only played at the Brisbane International this season, where he felt a hip problem flare-up during his quarter-final defeat by Jordan Thompson.
That led his withdrawal from the Australian Open as well as Doha and Indian Wells, where he had previously hoped to make his comeback.
His one outing since Brisbane was in an exhibition fight against Carlos Alcaraz in Las Vegas in March where observers detected significant stiffness in his back.
With this probably Nadal’s last year on tour, he will be keen not to miss any more clay court preparation time as he bids to win a record 15th French Open championship in June.
Earlier on Wednesday, the official Barcelona Open account uploaded a video on social media featuring 12-time tournament winner Nadal having a hit on the event’s centre court – which bears his name.
On Tuesday, another Spaniard Alcaraz also pulled out of Monte Carlo due to injury, putting the two-time defending Barcelona Open champion’s presence questionable next week.
