Nadal unsure when he'll return from injury

Saturday, 04 March 2023 at 13:00

Updated at Wednesday, 08 January 2025 at 14:48

byZachary Wimer

Rafael Nadal is unsure when he'll be able to play again, calling his Australian Open injury a slow-recovering 'big injury.'

Nadal made a public appearance recently, going to see Real Madrid play Barcelona. In between those commitments, he also talked to the media, revealing that his recovery has been going slower than he hoped. 'A big injury,' as he phrased it, is the culprit.

"I’m going very slowly. I’m seeing week by week, I’m having tests to see how the injury is evolving. I haven’t spoken much since Australia. It was a very big tear in the muscle, I tore a little bit of the tendon. It’s a very complicated place in the psoas, in all sports, but in tennis we get strength from there, so it’s a slower evolution than we would like."

- Nadal on his injury

Nadal admitted that he's been doing everything he can to stay in shape and preserve his tennis form but he can't practice fully yet. Being patient is the best he can do because another injury like this could see him miss many months.

"We have no choice but to be a little patient; it’s true that the calendar is passing and that I’m no longer 20 years old, and after a year like the one I’ve been having, you get tired, but I do what I can. Every day I’m at the Academy training, gym, recovery, 15 or 20 minutes on the court so that my arm doesn’t degenerate… but right now I’m waiting for the evolution."

Nadal isn't putting too much emphasis on when he'll return because in the end it will come down to how he recovers. His goal is Roland Garros and that's what matters most to him.

"I do not know if it will be Monte Carlo, I do not know if it will be Barcelona, if it will be Madrid, but I want to play, so when I can be back right away."

"The important thing for me…is to try to be healthy, when I compete on clay to feel that I can compete for what I want and fight for the ultimate goal, which right now has to be Roland Garros."