Six weeks after a stress fracture in the rib, Rafael Nadal is back in competition. He is participating this week in the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid, and has very few goals.
Six weeks after a stress fracture in the rib, Rafael Nadal is back in competition. He is participating this week in the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.
He could find Novak Djokovic still looking for his form after his first quarter with almost no competition.
The draw, held on Friday, put them both on the same half of the table.
The two veterans are in the same half of the table as Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who entered the top 10 out of just 18 after his victory in Barcelona last week.
Nadal will make his first steps on Wednesday, the day after Djokovic and Alcaraz announced on Tuesday.
Rafael Nadal’s last fight began on March 20, his last defeat at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 against American Taylor Fritz a day after his rib injury.
The injury didn’t allow me to do almost anything, I couldn’t hit any shots, it was completely disabling for everyone, Nadal explained on Monday at a news conference. He said he picked up the racket a dozen days ago, but only had one or two days to serve.
This is going to be a difficult week. If I could win just one battle, that would be incredibleHe added.
Nadal believes on time for the French Open in Paris, which will start in 3 weeks.
Spanish is No. 4 in the world rankings, whose top 20 has hardly changed in the past week.
Only Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov climbed two places to 20th in the world.
Félix Auger-Aliassime is still 10th, and Denis Shapovalov is still 16th.
Registered for the Madrid tournament, Shapovalov could face Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
ATP Ranking released on Monday:
- 1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 8400 points
- 2. Daniel Medvedev (RUS) 8080
- 3. Alexander Zverev (GER) 7420
- 4. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 6435
- 5. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 5690
- 6. Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 4495
- 7. Casper Ruud (NOR) 4110
- 8. Andrey Rublev (RUS) 4025
- 9. Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 3818
- 10. Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 3625
- 11. Cameron Norrie (GBR) 3335
- 12. Jannik Sinner (ITA) 3015
- 13. Taylor Fritz (USA) 3010
- 14. Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 3008
- 15. Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 2805
- 16. Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 2671
- 17. Reilly Opelka (USA) 2465
- 18. Pablo Carreno (ESP) 2135
- 19. Roberto Bautista (ESP) 1993
- 20. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 1750 (+2)
Source: Radio-Canada