The return operation began with a doubles match. It was just a matter of opening her mouth, of competing again, for the first time since that January 18 of the year she left, when no one imagined that the loss to Mackenzie McDonald in the second round of the Australian Open would bring such consequences. Rafael Nadal preferred to grease himself with Marc López, today a member of his technical team, once, not too long ago, an accomplished doubles player, with whom he won Olympic gold at the 2016 Games.

They lost 6-4 to Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson at the ATP 250 in Brisbane, the tournament that the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles has chosen to draw his racket. It matters little the outcome in this case.

"The problem when I say it's going to be my last season is that I can't predict 100% what's going to happen in the future," Nadal said after the match. "It's clear that the percentage [of options] is high that it's the last time I take part in the Australian tour [...]. But if I'm here next year, don't tell me I said this was the last one because I didn't say it," he continued.

A rival with cachet

Beyond future prospecting, the Spaniard, who says that things can hardly go well in this tournament, is already thinking about Tuesday's singles match, where he will meet Dominic Thiem. As fate would have it, two old acquaintances on the circuit will face each other from the outset, two men who have crossed paths 15 times, including two Roland Garros finals, 2018 and 2019, to stop us in the most outstanding matches of a series that was almost always full of content. Nadal won those two finals, against whom he was presumed to be a potential heir on the Parisian clay, and won nine of the duels.

Winner of the 2020 U.S. Open, holder of 16 other titles and former No. 98 in the rankings, the Austrian, now <>th, is fighting to regain status since a right wrist injury suffered more than two years ago radically disrupted his career.

In Brisbane, a small tournament, he was forced to win two qualifying matches to have the pleasure of facing Nadal again. At 30 years old, and far from the tennis that also led him to play two Masters Cup finals, in 2019 and 2020, Thiem is just a vestige of his former self.

All in all, and although without great results, he has been competing regularly for almost two seasons to get his head out and will be an uncomfortable opponent, even more so with the filming of the qualifying phase. "I can't predict how I'm going to be in the next six months, if my body will allow me to enjoy tennis as much as I have for the last 20 years, if I'm going to be competitive," said Nadal, who will have an interesting test at the start.

  • Rafa Nadal
  • US Open
  • Articles Javier Martínez