Rafael Nadal said goodbye to Madrid a few days ago, but he's already in Rome practicing ahead of what many assume will be his return to the Italian Open.
Nothing about the 22-time major winner is certain these days. His situation is very fluid and quite literally changes with every stroke. Things have looked very good in Madrid last week, even though he didn't go all the way.
He played a few matches, won a few times, and finished the event without any physical issues. That's about as well as he had hoped to go, and now he hopes to do the same thing in Rome.
The Italian Open is an important place for Nadal, who competed in the Italian capital many times and won 10 trophies. It's one of the few tournaments where Nadal won ten or more times, which just shows how amazing he feels in the Italian capital.
After the Madrid Open experience, the 37-year-old already moved to Rome, and he had his first practice at Foro Italico, which many tennis fans were happy to see. The stadiums were packed as fans flocked to see Nadal one more time because his participation at the ATP Masters 1000 event is not certain.
He hopes to play, but the reason he traveled so early to Rome is to get in some practice sets to see whether he's good enough to compete. Ultimately, playing in Rome isn't what matters the most to Nadal, but it's a necessary stepping stone towards his true goal, which is the Roland Garros.
The Spaniard is expected to rise with every match played, so playing more matches before Roland Garros is the ideal scenario. Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see what happens, but seeing him out there competing on the Italian Open courts is certainly a good sign.
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