The Frenchman trained with his Spanish counterpart and tennis legend ahead of his return to the circuit and ensured he was in top form for his return.
The Spanish super champion Rafael Nadalwho is preparing to return to tennis after nearly a year of inactivity due to an injury, “He’s very competitive and will win games,” as announced this Wednesday by the French Richard Gasquet after training him.
“I felt that he is no longer sick. He will be very competitive and will win games, I have no doubt about that”, insisted Gasquet, 37 years old and ranked 76th in the ATP world ranking in the final stage of his career. Gasquet is training with “Rafa” two weeks after his return to the circuit, as well as another French tennis player, the promising Arthur Fils, 19 years old, 36 in the world and this season’s champion in Lyon after winning the final against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.
“Rafa is doing long three-hour training sessions, he is giving himself the chance to go very far again”added Gasquet, who trained with the former world number one at the Academy he owns in Mallorca, as he did with the Fils in Kuwait.
Nadal, 37, will return to the circuit at the ATP 250 in Brisbane, on a fast surface, which will be played from December 31 to January 7, and is one of the stops before the first Grand Slam of the year, which will be the Australian Open scheduled for January 14-28. The tennis player born in Mallorca will play thanks to an invitation because his current ranking is 666, and will compete in Brisbane with rivals of the level of the Danish Holger Rune (8), the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (14), the American Ben Shelton (17) and the British Andy Murray (42). In Brisbane there will be two Argentine tennis players, Sebastian Baez (28) and Tomas Martín Etcheverry (30).
Nadal last played in January this year at the Australian Open when he lost in the second round to American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-4, 7-5, in that match he aggravated his iliopsoas injury. and then he had to undergo surgery, thus missing the rest of the season. Nadal, 14-time Roland Garros champion, wants to return to compete in a good version as 2024 will surely be the last year of his extraordinary career.
Nadal’s last training photos before his return
Rafa Nadal’s tennis academy shared photos of the tennis legend training with his teammate Emil Ruusuvuori on one of the courts on his property.
Photo: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
Source: Tycsports
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
