Renowned French coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently shared his thoughts about Rafael Nadal's impending tennis return and weighed his chances of success.
Nadal, 37, is set to play his first tournament in a year at next month's Brisbane International, which will herald the start of the 2024 men's tennis season. Having undergone surgery on a damaged hip he sustained at the 2023 Australian Open, the Spanish lefty is raring to play one more season.
There are a lot of unknowns pertaining to Nadal's form and fitness, but he has looked razor-sharp in preseason, according to reports. Nadal had trained in Kuwait since the start of December alongside French teenager Arthur Fils before returning to Mallorca.
For a man who knows nothing but to play every point as his life depended on it, Nadal has made a shocking revelation for the upcoming season, stating that fans should not expect him to go full throttle in his matches. Mouratoglou believes his results will be determined by how he feels on the court.
"The thing that is difficult with him is that we don't know how he feels in his body, only he knows. And this will play a big part in what he will be able to achieve in 2024."
Nadal will make his Grand Slam return at the 2024 Australian Open using his Protected Ranking to enter the event. For Mouratoglou, this could be one of two reasons.
Nadal intends to bring the curtain down on his career and wants to play in Melbourne one final time, or he is convinced about his level and competitive ability.
"The fact that he wants to play the Australian Open, there are two explanations. The first one is maybe he thinks it's his last year and he wants to play."
"But the second can be if he feels good, because if he wouldn't feel that good, he would probably go skip it and go straight to clay, probably in South America and get ready for Roland-Garros, which will be for sure the most important tournament of his season, because that's the Grand Slam he has the best chance to win."
Despite uncertainty regarding his health and the fact that he'll be 38 next summer, Mouratoglou expects Nadal to challenge and reckons he'll be "dangerous" if he is healthy.
"If he feels good physically, he will always be dangerous. It's going to be interesting because now the young guys have progressed a lot while he was out of the courts. So I'm really looking forward to seeing those young guys play against him and see how we can do against them with such a long absence also."
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