Toni Nadal is of the opinion that his nephew Rafael Nadal won't stop playing on the ATP Tour after 2024 if he fully recovers from his hip injury.
Rafael Nadal has only played a handful of matches this year as he injured his hip at the Australian Open. There was hope that the Spanish player would recover quickly but the injury proved more severe than initially thought as his recovery extended far beyond the initial prognosis. In retrospect, it's clear that Nadal hoped to avoid surgery by trying everything else but ultimately he did have it.
Fans held out hope that Nadal would return at Roland Garros but he didn't as he announced his withdrawal from the event leading up to it. The Spaniard dropped some more news in that same press conference as he admitted that 2024 will be his last season on Tour. His uncle Toni is unsure of that as he told Clay Tenis that Nadal could play beyond if he returns to his pre-injury self.
Rafael is already 37 years old, the years weigh heavily. What I know, because I talked to him, is that Rafael wants to come back, he wants to recover well. And if he recovers well I think he will want to continue.
Then we'll see because he has to get the results, which won't be easy, because when you lose the ranking it's more difficult because you have to compete with the best faster. Then you have to be more days well and you have to play hard matches more times. Let's see.
Some interesting thoughts by Toni who oftentimes is the only one that shares any kind of information related to his nephew. Nadal is fairly private of the courts and his uncle interacts with the media far more often than he does. He did share an update on his recovery recently which was good news.
As for Toni, he also writes a column for El Pais where he'll talk about tennis and other things. Let's see what happens in 2024. Nobody knows but fans would certainly welcome Nadal playing beyond that year.
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