Nadal to return at Australian Open, says tournament director
REUTERS – Rafa Nadal will return to Grand Slam tennis at the Australian Open in January, tournament director Craig Tiley announced on Wednesday, though the 22-times major champion’s representative later said no timeline has been set for his comeback.
The 37-year-old former world number one has been sidelined since hurting his hip flexor in a second-round loss to Mackenzie McDonald at the Melbourne Park major earlier this year.
The Spaniard was initially expected to miss eight weeks but underwent surgery on a hip muscle in June.
Tiley told Nine Network’s ‘The Today Show’ that Nadal had confirmed his participation in the Grand Slam.
“We can reveal exclusively here that Rafa will be back,” Tiley said.
“He’s been off for most of the year and in talking to him over the last few days he confirmed he will be back, which we’re really excited about, the champion of 2022. That’s awesome.”
However, Nadal’s representative Benito Perez-Barbadillo told Reuters via text from Shanghai that there was nothing to announce yet on the Spaniard’s upcoming schedule.
“I can confirm to you that Rafa is practising, as everyone saw on his last post on Instagram,” Perez-Barbadillo said.
“But there is no date confirmed, scheduled or programmed yet for his comeback.”
Tiley said Australian Nick Kyrgios could return in time to play at Melbourne Park after he had knee surgery in January and suffered wrist and foot issues in an injury-plagued 2023.