{"id":356570,"date":"2023-12-31T09:53:44","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T10:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=356570"},"modified":"2023-12-31T12:01:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T12:01:42","slug":"great-to-see-nadal-all-smiles-on-australian-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=356570","title":{"rendered":"'Great to see': Nadal all smiles on Australian return"},"content":{"rendered":"

There's an obvious buzz with Rafael Nadal<\/a> back on tour\ufeff in Australia and the 22-time Grand Slam champion can feel it in the air.<\/p>\n

Despite losing his Brisbane International<\/a> men's doubles match to\ufeff Australian pair Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson<\/a> 6-4, 6-4, Nadal was all smiles as he left the court with Spanish partner Marc Lopez.<\/p>\n

"It's great to see Rafa back. I've been on the receiving end a couple of times in singles, so it's nice to get him back on a doubles court," Thompson told Nine's Adam Peacock post match.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> Summer of Tennis, United Cup day \ufeffthree<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Seven dropped catches hand Aussies series win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Socceroos legend set to follow in Ange's footsteps<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The win was more enjoyable for Thompson than his defeat to Nadal at the French Open back in 2022 in straight sets (6-2, 6-2, 6-2).<\/p>\n

"Much more. I actually said at the shake of hands that Roland Garros was a pleasure, but it wasn't fun\ufeff," Thompson joked.<\/p>\n

\"Rafael<\/p>\n

The Australian pair defeated the Spanish duo in an hour and 13 minutes\ufeff, taking the victory as a good sign for their upcoming 2024 summer on home soil.<\/p>\n

"It's not 2024 yet, but it's nice to start the new season with a win. Hopefully I can bring some of that into my singles tomorrow," Purcell said.<\/p>\n

"Jordan and I had so much fun\ufeff."<\/p>\n

It's another win in the book for the Australian men, who continue to go through a strong period in the lead up to the Australian Open in January.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/wwos\/status\/1741389331401707636<\/a><\/p>\n

Purcell and Thompson are two of eight in the top 71 in the world, which hasn't happened since 1999.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"It's great, we're all good mates. I'm thankful that he (Purcell) plays with me," Thompson said.<\/p>\n

"Everyone's pushing each other and (Alexei) Popyrin played a great match before. Hopefully the Aussies can keep going from strength to strength.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There's an obvious buzz with Rafael Nadal back on tour\ufeff in Australia and the 22-time Grand Slam champion can feel it in the air. Despite […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":356572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=356570"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":356573,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356570\/revisions\/356573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/356572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=356570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=356570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=356570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}