Rafael Nadal: “I hope to be able to not demand the maximum from myself” | ATP Tour

Just four days ago, Rafael Nadal announced through his social networks that he already had a return date to the ATP Tour. It would be next December 31 to face its first tournament of the 2024 season at the Brisbane International presented by Evie.

Of course, the 22-time Grand Slam champion prefers to tone down the euphoria unleashed after the news with a message of caution that he also launched this Monday on his official social media channels.

“I am and have been afraid to announce things, because in the end it is a year without competing and it is a hip operation, but what worries me most is not the hip, but everything else,” the 37-year-old Spaniard began his speech. years.

“I think I’m ready,” Nadal continued saying about his return to competition, after practically a year without competing. “I trust and hope that things go well, that it will give me the opportunity to enjoy the track again.”

Nadal played his last match on January 18 in the second round of the Australian Open. From then on he began a long recovery process that has lasted for almost twelve months.

From my announcement on Friday… some explanations this week. Here the first one:
👉🏻 I am and have been afraid to announce things. It has made me afraid to want to announce something without being 100% sure…
👉🏻 I think I am prepared and confident and I hope that things go well and that… pic.twitter.com/vHnDSQzBCx

— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) December 4, 2023

“In the end it is a long time, so I hope first of all to feel those nerves, that excitement, those fears, those doubts and I hope of myself not to expect anything, to have the ability to not demand of myself what I have demanded of myself throughout my career” , explained the Spaniard about the expectations of his return to the slopes.

“I think I am in a different time, in a situation and in unexplored terrain,” he added. “You have internalized what you have done throughout your life, which is to demand the maximum of yourself and right now what I hope is to be able to not do it, to not demand the maximum from myself, to accept that things are going to be very difficult at the beginning, Give me the necessary time and forgive myself if things go wrong at the beginning, which is a very big possibility.”

Of course, before finishing his speech, Nadal appealed to hope. “But knowing that there may be a not-too-distant future in which things can change, if I maintain the enthusiasm, the spirit of work, and the physique responds to me, without a doubt,” he concluded.

The Manacor native’s first step will be next week, where he will test his level training with Arthur Fils, recent finalist in the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM. He will do it at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait.