Rafael Nadal's brutally realistic take on his Brisbane title chances

Rafael Nadal has downplayed expectations forward of his return as the previous world No. 1 believes it’s “not possible” to consider lifting titles for the time being. 

This week, 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal landed in Brisbane, the place he’ll play his first event for the reason that Australian Open. Although Nadal was out for 12 months and had hip surgical procedure in June, Australia’s Alexei Popyrin tipped the 37-year-old Spaniard to go all the best way in Brisbane.

“It’s not possible to consider profitable tournaments at the moment. What’s actually potential is to benefit from the comeback. I don’t anticipate a lot — one yr with out being on the courtroom,” Nadal stated throughout his pre-tournament press convention. 

Nadal not making any long-term prediction

Speaking to the media, Nadal repeated as soon as once more that 2024 will seemingly be his final yr in professional tennis and revealed that fitness-wise he “significantly better than what I anticipated a month in the past.” Nevertheless, Nadal additionally underlined that he simply cannot be making any long-term predictions or setting any long-term objectives.

“I can’t have tremendous long-term objectives as a result of I don’t see myself enjoying a brilliant very long time. I don’t understand how issues are going to maintain going. I’m not a participant who tries to foretell what can occur within the brief time period, and it’s even harder within the medium time frame. I would like to simply accept the adversity and that it isn’t going to be excellent, simply include the appropriate spirit every single day,” Nadal defined.

After making his Brisbane debut in 2017, Nadal is ready for his second look on the Australian event. In his first and lone Brisbane look, Nadal reached the quarterfinal earlier than dropping to Milos Raonic. 

Contemplating that Nadal hasn’t performed in 12 months, it’s anticipated that he’ll really feel rusty in his return. However for now, the principle factor for Nadal is to remain wholesome and be aggressive.