Rafael Nadal will not feature at the 2023 Wimbledon, but the 22-time Grand Slam winner certainly has some fond memories at SW19.
Nadal remains sidelined following an injury that he sustained during the Australian Open in January and has since fallen out of the Top 100 on the ATP Tour. Despite hopes of making a comeback for the 2023 Roland Garros and other events, Nadal has been ruled out for the remainder of the season as he recovers from surgery on his psoas tendon.
Missing out on Wimbledon and Roland Garros, which Nadal has won a combined 16 times, will be a disappointment for the 37-year-old. However, Uncle Toni, when writing his regular column for news outlet El Pais, believes his nephew will make a return to Wimbledon next season as he continues his recovery.
"I am enormously excited to see my nephew's recovery and see his return next year to this magnificent setting to prove, as [singer and songwriter] Carlos Gardel said, that 20 years are nothing,”
In addition, Nadal's uncle shared how he inspired a 17-year-old Rafa to pick himself up after a humbling first experience at Wimbledon in 2003. During the competition, Nadal reached the third round before losing to Paradorn Srichaphan.
But it was an experience that Uncle Toni and Nadal took confidence from and the Spanish player went on to win Wimbledon twice and reach five finals.
"That first experience helped us to return home with the confidence that, indeed, my nephew's play could be adapted to the grass surface."
"‘One day we have to win here’, I told him before leaving the club and flying back to Mallorca. I remember that precise moment and how this phrase became one of the great hopes in Rafael's career."
“Good proof that we put in all our efforts were the five consecutive finals that he played on the Centre Court of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club."
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