TENNIS
When was the last time Rafael Nadal played and what tournaments has he missed so far in 2024?
There was a lot of expectation for the return of the Spanish legend, but things didn’t play out the way he expected.
Rafa Nadal won’t remember 2023 as his greatest year, but he will probably want to forget about his return to the tennis courts in early 2024.
The 22-time Grand Slam tournament champion was forced to stop competing during the second round of the 2023 Australian Open when he lost to McKenzie McDonald after suffering a hip injury that didn’t allow him to play at his best.
Since that match, the Manacor native has featured at just one tournament and has missed every major. After having surgery, Nadal started a recovery process that kept him out of action for the rest of the year, with the player postponing his comeback as he was not fit enough and wasn’t ready to play at the highest level.
However, the King of Clay finally managed to make his return to the courts at the beginning of 2024, when he competed at the Brisbane International, an event that serves as a preparation for the Australian Open.
Nadal gets injured again in a very short return
Nadal’s comeback was one of the most anticipated events in the tennis calendar, as fans of the sport had waited a long time to see the Spaniard compete again.
The 37-year-old maestro looked very solid in his return, defeating Dominic Thiem in straight sets and getting the better of Jason Kubler in a game where he only lost three games.
However, everything changed in his third match. When it seemed that he had already left behind his injury episodes, Nadal ended up losing to Jordan Thompson in a hard-fought three-set clash where he suffered a micro tear in a different area than his previous injury.
After that, he was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open and he has been off the courts since then. He recently announced he will play again in Indian Wells, after his exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz in Las Vegas.
Which tournaments has Nadal missed so far in 2024?
Nadal’s return is good news for tennis and the Indian Wells event, but since he got injured in Brisbane he has missed the possibility of playing quite a few tournaments.
The Australian Open was Nadal’s priority starting the new term, as it’s the first major of the calendar and would have given him the chance to get back to the competition rhythm in best to five-set games.
His injury meant he couldn’t help his Spanish teammates in the Davis Cup qualifiers, which took place at the beginning of February.
In normal circumstances, Nadal would have featured after that in the clay tournaments held in Argentina (Córdoba, Buenos Aires) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) before making the transition to the hard courts to start preparing the ‘Double Sunshine’ on US soil. He was expected to feature in the Qatar Open (Doha), as he announced at the start of 2024, but ended up missing the tournament to be able to play the exhibition against Alcaraz and be ready for Indian Wells.
Since Brisbane until the start of Indian Wells, a total of 17 tournaments have been played without the presence of Nadal in any of them. Although Doha was his preference to make his second comeback this year, he would have probably taken part in some of the 250-500 ATP tournaments played on clay and hard courts before the start of March.