Rafael Nadal won't be playing in one, but two events on his return to tennis at the 2024 Brisbane International, making sure he gets enough match practice.
One of the most important things for tennis players, or any athletes, when coming to competition is getting competitive action. The competitive spirit of a real match is not replicable in practice, and that's why the 22-time Grand Slam champion also seeks as many matches as possible early in 2024.
He signed up for the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane, where he will compete in singles thanks to receiving a wild card, alongside home players Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler, who are the other two wild card recipients, but now, it was revealed, that Nadal will play also in doubles.
The Spaniard, who is already in Brisbane, is simply looking to get as many matches behind his belt as possible, and playing doubles should certainly help him do that. On top of that, it's expected that his doubles match will be the first match that he plays in Brisbane.
Like that, Nadal can enter his first singles match already a little bit less rusty, making it more probable that he will win his first singles match and get enough competition before making his way to Melbourne for the 2024 Australian Open.
In doubles, the Spaniard will be teaming up with a very familiar face, and that is none other than Marc Lopez, who Nadal teamed up with to win the 2016 Olympics gold medal.
Now, the Spanish duo can face doubles specialists such as Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer, or Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow. However, also singles players signed up for the tournament, so Nadal can meet even Ugo Humbert and Ben Shelton, Grigor Dimitrov and Sebastian Korda, or his old rival Andy Murray and youngster Holger Rune.
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