{"id":358442,"date":"2024-01-08T19:51:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T20:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358442"},"modified":"2024-01-08T23:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T23:02:23","slug":"nadal-questions-left-by-australian-open-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358442","title":{"rendered":"Nadal questions left by Australian Open withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal<\/a> chose to look on the bright side when it comes to the torn hip muscle that will keep him out of the Australian Open<\/a> and extend his absence from tennis<\/a> to more than a year.<\/p>\n

At least, he told the world via social media on Sunday<\/a>, this is not the same part of the hip that he hurt in Melbourne last January and that required surgery last June.<\/p>\n

At least, the 22-time grand slam champion explained, he still can point to his main goal for 2024, which remains to be fit and ready to compete in a serious way at Roland-Garros on his beloved red clay.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Adelaide International exclusively live and free on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not very bad news,\u201d Nadal insisted while announcing he wasn't going to be able to give his best at Melbourne Park, where he has collected two trophies and where the year's first major tournament begins on Sunday, \u201cand we all remain positive \u2026 for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rafael<\/p>\n

That might make his fans feel better about things. But there are still plenty of lingering questions about what this all means for his future in the sport. And several of those questions are the same as those that everyone was asking in 2023.<\/p>\n

When will he be back? Will the 37-year-old actually be back at all? What version of Nadal will be on display when \u2014 if? \u2014 he returns to the tour? Will he be a title contender at grand slam tournaments ever again? Will he be fully healthy ever again? Will he get a chance to walk away from tennis on his own terms? Will his fans get a chance to say goodbye during some sort of farewell tournament or match?<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Defending champ Kokkinakis bundled out in first round<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Nadal famously shared tears with rival and friend Roger Federer when they paired up in doubles at the Laver Cup in 2022 in Federer's final hurrah. Just like for most of 2023, Novak Djokovic \u2014 the other member of the so-called Big Three \u2014 will be the last one standing for the time being.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will miss you in Melbourne, Rafa. Sending all our love and best wishes for a speedy recovery,\u201d the Australian Open's official social media account posted. \u201cSee you on the court soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/RafaelNadal\/status\/1743922671312867675<\/a><\/p>\n

That last word might have been a tad optimistic. No one other than Nadal and his team really knows, of course.<\/p>\n

That is a group that certainly has plenty of experience dealing with injuries and comebacks.<\/p>\n

This Australian Open will mark the fourth consecutive major tournament that Nadal has sat out since he got injured during a second-round loss in Melbourne in January 2023 \u2014 he hadn't played at any level, anywhere, in nearly 12 full months until three matches at a tune-up event in Brisbane last week \u2014 and raises his career count of majors missed because of injury or illness to no fewer than 15.<\/p>\n

\"Aussie's<\/p>\n

His most recent major triumph, at 2022 Roland-Garros, came on a painful left foot that needed to be numbed with multiple injections. The one before that, at the 2022 Australian Open, came after missing time due to that foot. And so on.<\/p>\n

There is one surface, clay, and one site, Roland-Garros, that matter more than any others to the Spaniard and to his legacy. And it just so happens that the place where he won 14 of his grand slam trophies is also where the 2024 Olympics will be held.<\/p>\n

Roland-Garros starts in May. The Olympic Games begin in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always mentioned,\u201d Nadal wrote Sunday, "my goal is to be at my best level in three months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He is one of those all-time greats who finds it difficult to step on the field of play unless he believes he is ready to win and ready to pursue a title.<\/p>\n

That is not the case right now, because even though his shots carried their usual weight during the first two matches \u2014 and first two victories \u2014 of his comeback at the Brisbane International last week, the hip was too problematic during the nearly three and a half hours across three sets during a loss to Jordan Thompson in the quarter-finals there.<\/p>\n

If that was tough on him, he knew he couldn't bring forth what he called his \u201cmaximum level\u201d during a best-of-five-sets match at a major.<\/p>\n

The world of tennis now will wonder: When might he again feel that is possible?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal chose to look on the bright side when it comes to the torn hip muscle that will keep him out of the Australian […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358446,"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\/358442"}],"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=358442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358451,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358442\/revisions\/358451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/358446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}