Rafael Nadal Australian Open
Although Rafael Nadal had a successful start to his Australian Open campaign in 2022, his battle with COVID-19 was daunting.
Nadal on Monday said that he was “physically shattered” during his struggle with Covid-19 in the lead-up to the tournament.
Nonetheless, he won his season-opening Grand Slam match against American Marcos Giron in just under two hours on Rod Laver Arena on Monday. He claimed the sixth seed’s first victory of the season.
Rafael Nadal . Photo/Eurosport
The 2009 Australian Open winner broke twice in the first set – once in the second, and twice more in the third to advance to the second round of the tournament in Melbourne.
As a result of winning the Melbourne Summer Set championship last week, it was his fourth triumph in Melbourne this year. It marked a welcome return to action for the former world No.1 who has been battling injuries in 2021.
Having missed the latter half of the 2021 season due to a foot injury, Nadal made his comeback at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event in Abu Dhabi in December.
He tested positive for Covid-19 following the tournament and was forced to withdraw from the competition halfway.
Speaking of his past year, he said that he got weary often. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the coronavirus bout or it was because he was off the Tour for six months.
He recalls that the COVID-19 symptoms were highly unpleasant. He spent four days in bed and three more days in a state of physical and emotional collapse.
However, he started feeling better and eventually tested negative for COVID-19 after 10 days.
Despite the fact that he has made numerous comebacks due to injury and is overjoyed with his return to the court, Nadal confesses that there was “a lot of doubt.”
He says that the last months have been quite difficult. He adds that a lockdown in 2020 made it even more difficult for his comeback to tennis.
“Not only the last six months have been tough, obviously being out of the competition, but since the last lockdown in 2020.
“Everyone knows that I have an important injury in my foot at the beginning of my career… after those two months being at home, when I came back, it was very challenging.
With him playing at the Australian Open, it is a dream come true after difficult times punctuated by a lot of concerns.
Now ‘he couldn’t be happier playing at the Australian Open.
The Spaniard adds that it’s “always difficult to come back from injuries, and you have to take things one day at a time.”
One of the lessons Nadal learned is that, in order to go forward, you must accept responsibility for your actions and forgive yourself when things do not go as planned.
Rafael Nadal . Photo/Sportskeeda
He admits things could be challenging at the beginning, but being optimistic and playing with the appropriate spirit helps one succeed.
With Serbian player Novak Djokovic out of the race, Nadal has a daunting task to reclaim his title at the Australian Open.
Nadal will be gunning for his 21st Grand Slam title. However, fresh faces in the tennis world – Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Medvedev among others – are a force to reckon with.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login