{"id":385583,"date":"2024-04-17T00:05:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T00:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=385583"},"modified":"2024-04-17T02:04:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T02:04:05","slug":"rafa-is-back-nadal-to-face-demon-in-last-minute-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=385583","title":{"rendered":"'Rafa is back!': Nadal to face Demon in last-minute return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal<\/a> has made his first competitive appearance at the Barcelona Open as part of preparations for Roland-Garros<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It marked the first time since this year's Brisbane Open in January that Nadal has played at a tournament, returning in January after being sidelined with a hip flexor injury.<\/p>\n

It was a last-minute decision for Nadal, with the Spaniard taking to the court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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He defeated Italian young gun Flavio Cobolli in what marked the first competitive clay court appearance in 681 days.<\/p>\n

\"Rafael<\/p>\n

Nadal triumphed 6-2, 6-3 in the round of 64.<\/p>\n

Nadal will face Australia's Alex De Minaur in the round of 32 on Thursday at midnight (AEST).<\/p>\n

After his loss, Cobolli walked past members of the public and smiled \u2014 "Rafa is back," he said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TennisTV\/status\/1780274052138983494<\/a><\/p>\n

"The crowd was great," said Nadal in his post-match press conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"A full crowd since the beginning. Even before the match started, the court was full, so that means a lot to me to be able to walk on court today and feel that warmth and that support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"In a very special place for me, it's so helpful and means a lot to me to receive that support and that love."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/rolandgarros\/status\/1780190999165194333<\/a><\/p>\n

Nadal looks set to retire from tennis at the end of the 2024 season. However, he hopes to be able to play at Roland-Garros once more before calling time on his illustrious career.<\/p>\n

Nadal has won Roland-Garros a record 14 times and the Barcelona Open on 12 occasions.<\/p>\n

This year's tournament marks the first clay court tournament since 2021 for Nadal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal has made his first competitive appearance at the Barcelona Open as part of preparations for Roland-Garros. It marked the first time since this […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":385585,"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\/385583"}],"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=385583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385586,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385583\/revisions\/385586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/385585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=385583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=385583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=385583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}