Rafael Nadal made his comeback in January at the Brisbane International, and it went well, so what might be his top ambitions for this year?
One former ATP player has a pretty good idea and sat down with Marca to talk about it. David Ferrer spent much of his career battling Rafael Nadal on the courts. They know each other pretty well, and the Spaniard knows his compatriot also through the Davis Cup team.
As the current Davis Cup captain of Team Spain, he also has a pretty good idea of how Nadal wants this season to unfold, and he recently explained what his main goals may be.
As expected, it's Roland Garros and the Olympic Games, which are this year played on those Roland Garros courts he loves so much.
"Hopefully. What I can say is that we have to wait a little to see how Rafa goes on the Indian Wells tour and then on the clay tour, which is very important to see how he feels. Today, Rafa's priority, before the Davis Cup, is the Games."
It shouldn't come off as a huge surprise to anybody because, ultimately, clay is the surface where he'll be more competitive than any other. He's the best ever on it, and even in this version, Nadal is still far better than most other players.
"Have a good clay tour, feel competitive and be at the Paris event. The option that he can play doubles with Carlos Alcaraz is something that all tennis fans and I, as captain, are very excited to see being there."
Sure, there are players that can beat him on clay, but he'll make it pretty tough. In the end, he came back to win trophies, and he'll have a chance to do so in Paris if he remains healthy enough. He showed in Brisbane that he still has the tennis to do so.
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