Rafael Nadal, second in the world’s world tennis rankings, feels his minor injury will not be completely remedied for the Australian Open tennis tournament, which starts on Monday.
Former world-leading 20-time Grand Slam champion Spanish star did not play in the first round of the ATP Cup on Tuesday due to back pain - he also canceled his participation on Friday - and later said he was still far from the level of the first GS of the year. required for your tournament.
"It's not about feeling bad or not being able to play. My condition has improved, but even so, I'm not in a position to fight at full intensity in a match," he said. He added that since he was never obsessed with the Grand Slams, his main focus now is to be able to play at the Australian Open at all, and if the game doesn’t go well there, the season will continue for him.
Nadal and Roger Federer are tied for the top rankings with 20 GS successes. Due to his Swiss knee surgeries, he will not start in the first GS tournament of the year and will only return to the Doha race starting on March 8. The Spanish tennis player could thus be the only first on the leaderboard in the event of his victory in Melbourne. Nadal made it to the finals five times at the Australian Open - most recently in 2019 - but was only able to celebrate once, in 2009.
(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti / Photo: pixabay)