After two years, Rafael Nadal returned to the Court Philippe Chatrier court at Roland Garros for his first practice ahead of this year's French Open, and he was watched by thousands.
The Spanish player is already in Paris for the 2024 Roland Garros, and on Monday, he held his first practice. This practice was not a typical practice because it looked more like a match with the number of people in the stands.
Nadal conveniently scheduled the practice in the early evening hours, which allowed a lot of fans to travel to the facilities and see him practice for the first time ahead of this year's tournament.
It's not a surprise that so many people watched him practice because he's an iconic player who left a huge mark at the event. This might just be the final time that fans will get a chance to see him at the event.
Technically, he hasn't really confirmed that he'll play, but practicing means that he's very likely to compete, which is what recent reports suggested as well.
Nadal hasn't explicitly said that he will definitely play at the event, but for fans, it was still great to see him back in Paris, especially on Court Philippe Chatrier, where he won so many matches in the past two decades.
The practice didn't tell us much about his physical condition because he looked relatively good, and he didn't seem to be hampered by any physical issues. He's always been one of the players who put their all into the practice, bringing a lot of intensity.
He's had some good practice sets in recent weeks, but the matches themselves haven't been very good, and that's also why he admitted at the 2024 Italian Open that he has practiced better than he has played during this comeback attempt.