Rafael Nadal attempted a few comebacks this year, each thwarted by a setback, and it seems like it may happen again just ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 38-year-old player has made a few comeback attempts this year. He came back in Australia but injured himself after a few matches. He then attempted another comeback in March and also injured himself, missing even more time as a result.
Eventually, his clay comeback proved to be successful, as he didn't injure himself again, at least immediately, but early on, he didn't play the best tennis. He took a break after the French Open to hit the practice courts again, and he returned recently at the 2024 Bastad Open, making the final for the first time since the 2022 Roland Garros.
The Spaniard returned to Bastad to fine-tune his game for the Olympics, which begin on July 27th, 2024, even though he said that he gave the tournament importance as any other event.
After that week at the ATP 250 tournament in Sweden, he spent the past few days in Paris preparing for the Olympic Games. He practiced alone for his singles campaign and also with Carlos Alcaraz in doubles, which was a spectacle many tennis fans couldn't wait to see.
Unfortunately, they might not see it all, at least according to some recent reports from Paris. There is not a lot of information, however, we do know that Nadal experienced a setback in practice.
His coach, Carlos Moya, who is with him in Paris, confirmed to the media that Nadal experienced a setback in practice on Wednesday, which seems to be a thigh or hamstring issue.
Regardless of what it is, it's not good news because whatever the injury is, it can't get that much better in only a handful of days. Another ominous sign that something is wrong is that Nadal didn't practice on Thursday, as he had two scheduled practices.
Moya also commented on that, admitting that they decided to give him rest and not force it, which makes sense with an acute problem like this.
"I can’t assure you Nadal will play. Today it was decided to rest to give him more time to recover from the setback that occurred yesterday. Let’s see if he can be ready tomorrow. The most responsible thing right now with an event of this magnitude is not to force it."
Obviously, the Spaniard is dealing with an issue, and, at the moment, we don't know if his team knows the exact issue. The likelihood is that he did undergo tests to see whether something was torn or strained.
For now, his fans will have to wait, as the team clearly wants to see whether Nadal can give it a go. If he can't, he won't play, at least in singles, and that would be devastating as this is the final Olympics he was supposed to play.
His campaign should start already on Saturday, kicking off in the doubles competition alongside Alcaraz as the third match on the Court Philippe-Chatrier against the sixth-seeded Argentinian duo Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
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