Rafael Nadal says he has low expectations about his return to professional tennis but is hopeful that he will gain momentum.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner hasn’t played on the Tour since his second round exit from the Australian Open due to a hip injury which he underwent surgery on during the summer. As a consequence, the Spaniard has fallen down the rankings to outside the top 600 for the first time since 2002 and will be unseeded for the next Australian Open.
Nadal is set to kick off his comeback at the Brisbane International during the first week of January. An ATP 500 event which will also feature the likes of Holger Rune, Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov. In. the past he has staged successful comebacks with one of the most notable occurring at the start of the 2022 season where he won his 21st major title in Melbourne after a six-month absence due to a chronic foot problem.
However, this time round the 37-year-old is more cautious about how he will fair on the tour.
“It’s been a long time, so I hope, first of all, to feel again those nerves, that expectancy, those fears, those doubts,” Nadal said in a video published on his social media account.
“I expect from myself not to expect anything. This is the truth. To have the ability not to demand of myself what I have demanded of myself throughout my career. I believe I’m in a different moment, in a different situation, in uncharted territory.”
So far in his career, Nadal has won 92 ATP titles, spent 209 weeks as world No.1 and earned more than £134M in prize money. He is the first player to have completed a career Grand Slam twice and win 2 Olympic gold medals.
“I have internalised what I’ve had throughout my life, which is to demand the maximum of myself,” he continued.
“And right now what I really hope is to be able to not do that, to not demand the maximum from myself, to accept that things are going to be very difficult at the beginning and to give myself the necessary time and to forgive myself if things go wrong at the beginning, which is a very big possibility.
“But knowing that there may be a not-too-distant future where things can change, if I keep the dream and the spirit of work and my body responds, no doubt.”
Nadal’s low expectations come amid speculation that 2024 could be the final season of his career. He has previously mentioned the possibility of retiring in the new year but has yet to make a final decision. How his body will fair over the coming weeks will play a key role in his decision to continue playing or not.
The Brisbane International will begin on December 31st.
