Nadal returns to tennis arena with ‘low expectations’

Nadal returns to tennis arena with ‘low expectations’

AFP
December 20, 2021

Nadal returns to tennis arena with ‘low expectations’

Rafael Nadal returns to competition in Abu Dhabi that started on Friday, December 16, with his expectations low after a lengthy injury absence but hopes high of lining up in next month’s Australian Open.

The 20-time major champion has struggled with a foot injury for the past six months — forcing him to miss both Wimbledon and the US Open.

Nadal is guaranteed to get two matches under his belt in the UAE capital, which will help him assess the progress he has made with regard to his foot.

“It’s not about pain. Pain I had a lot of times in my career, almost all the time. It’s more about having the chance to have a pain that I can manage to compete well,” Nadal told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

“Let’s see, I need to try it in competition.

“I know the comeback will not be easy, I don’t have big expectations now.

“But the early expectation is to be here, to play in front of a great crowd again, to feel myself competing again against great players and then enjoy.

“I really hope that the foot is going to get better and better to be again at the way and the level I want to be.”

Nadal explained that it has been a “tough period” for him but he is no stranger to injuries and lengthy breaks from competition and insists he still has the fire to achieve more in the sport.

Interior fire

Despite skipping out on almost half the season, he finished 2021 ranked No.6 in the world after picking up two titles in Barcelona and Rome and making the semi-finals at Roland Garros and the quarters at the Australian Open.

With the 2022 Australian Open just over four weeks away, Nadal is keen to test his foot in Abu Dhabi and work towards making the trip Down Under in healthy conditions.

“You never know honestly,” he says when asked about his expectations for Melbourne.

“In sport, my experience says that things change very quick. What today seems impossible or almost impossible, nobody knows what can happen in one month.

Nadal has been practising hard back home in Mallorca and has made a new addition to his coaching staff in the form of his good friend Marc Lopez, who won 2016 Olympic gold with him in doubles in Rio.

“I have been doing a great job at home, practising well with the right attitude, intensity, working a lot on my fitness, so if I’m able to do all these kind of things because the foot allows me, you never know what’s going on,” said the 35-year-old.

“I know it’s going to be super difficult for me.

“If things are going well, I’m going to be playing only one tournament before Australia and these two matches here, so the amount of hours on court at the competitive level before such a tough and demanding tournament like Australia will be not much.

“But the main thing is still always the same, to be healthy. If I’m healthy, I still have the interior fire to keep going and to fight for my goals.”

Dominic Thiem withdraws from Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament

Dominic Thiem said Wednesday that he plans to return to competitive tennis in Australia in January after cancelling his participation at an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi this week.

“The ATP Cup is definitely the goal now. I hope I will be able to play there… I’m optimistic,” the 2020 US Open champion told reporters.

The 28-year-old said his wrist had fully healed from an injury — that had kept him off the court since August — but he had yet to overcome a mental block when he is hitting the ball.

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“The whole process is going according to plan. I am pain free. But I lag behind in training. I only go on the court when I can do 100 percent of the forehand, and I am currently at 80,” he said.

The Austrian said he was currently back to training several hours a day but has not yet played against any of his teammates, leading him to call off competing at Mubadala World Tennis Championship this week.

Thiem said he would fly from Abu Dhabi to Sydney later this month.

After the ATP Cup, Thiem plans to compete in the first Grand Slam of 2022 at the Australian Open.

At the ATP Cup in Sydney, he is scheduled to play the opening match against defending champion and world number two Daniil Medvedev on January 2.

Thiem, whose world ranking has dropped to 15th from third in 2020, said he expected to have to fight hard once he returns.

“It will certainly be a rocky way back, the level is very high. But I also had to work my way up in my younger years, and I also made it back then,” he said.

US Open champion to skip Mubadala World Tennis Championship

US Open champion Emma Raducanu pulled out of this week’s Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi after testing positive for Covid-19, organisers announced on Monday.

The 19-year-old Briton was due to face Olympic champion Belinda Bencic on Thursday in the exhibition tournament.

Instead, Raducanu, who had already travelled to the United Arab Emirates, will now have to complete a period of isolation.

Providing she does not experience any lingering illness, however, the world number 19 should still be able to travel to Australia ahead of the first Grand Slam tournament of 2022.

“I was very much looking forward to playing in front of the fans here in Abu Dhabi, but unfortunately, after testing positive for Covid-19, I will have to postpone until the next opportunity,” Raducanu said in a statement released by the organisers.

“I’m isolating as per rules and hopefully will be able to get back soon.”

Raducanu, who became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam when she beat Leylah Fernandez in the US Open final at Flushing Meadows, has been working with new coach Torben Beltz ahead of what will be her first full season on the WTA Tour.

The teenager will also be in isolation for Sunday’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year show, where she is up against Tom Daley, Tyson Fury, Adam Peaty, Raheem Sterling and Sarah Storey in the public vote for Britain’s top sportsperson of 2021.