Toni Nadal has confirmed that his physically struggling nephew is doing well mentally and is excited to make a return to the game in 2024. Nadal incurred a psoas iliacus rupture in January and was not able to recover on time as he missed Roland the whole Clay and Grass swing including French Open and Wimbledon. Experience the slowness of recovery and sustaining several setbacks, the 22-time Champion decided to go under knife in June.
The Mallorcan will be on the sidelines throughout the 2023 season but aims to make a return for a last dance in 2024. The 37-year old is currently on a family vacation, having some leisure and travel with his wife and toddler son.
“Rafa is fine, on vacation, wanting to jump onto the court in 2024. Let’s hope that (Carlos) Alcaraz will let us win something then.
He is excited to return and retire on the court,” said Uncle Toni, via Relevo.
Nadal will be on Court in 2024
Pulling out of French Open in May, Nadal for the first time in his career opened the door on his retirement before press as he shared his mind on retiring in 2024.
Juan Monaco, a former top-10 player and a friend of Nadal’s has revealed earlier at the end of June that upon a healthy and winning return, Nadal will forgo the idea of walking away from the game. In an interview with Claytenis Toni was asked about Monaco’s assessment to which he replied: “Yeah, I think it’s a bit like that.”
Here is a truncated excerpt of what Monaco said in the interview at ClayTenis:
Interviewer: Nadal said he will say goodbye in 2024, but if he does it is to compete and win, or not?
Monaco: I think if he decides to return to train hard to return to the tour is to win. If he doesn’t, he won’t come back.
Interviewer: And if he wins, does he say goodbye?
Monaco: I don’t think so!
Uncle Toni’s complete comment at ClayTenis:
Yeah, I think it’s a bit like that. Then we’re going to see… Rafael is already 37 years old, the years weigh heavily. What I know, because I talked to him, is that Rafael wants to come back, he wants to recover well. And if he recovers well I think he will want to continue…. Then we’ll see, because he has to get the results, which won’t be easy, because when you lose the ranking it’s more difficult, because you have to compete with the best faster. Then you have to be more days well and you have to play hard matches more times. Let’s see…