Away from the professional circuit since the ATP 500 Washington, in August this year, due to a foot injury, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal already knows where he will compete again. His first official tournament will be in Melbourne, in one of the Australian ATP 250s that precede the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season. Follow the entire grand slam season at the best odds with the best betting software.
Nadal will return to the Melbourne event that will start on January 4. In addition to him, the tournament will feature Japan’s Kei Nishikori, former world number 4, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, a former Top 5 ranked player, and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the 2017 ATP Finals champion.
“My idea is to come back as soon as possible, but to come back well. We won’t know how the foot is until we increase the load and test ourselves at the highest level,” Nadal said in an interview last week.
Also in action at the event will be names like the American Reilly Opelka, the Kazakh Alexander Bublik, and the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, who was one of the surprises of the last US Open, coming out of the qualifier and going all the way to the quarterfinals.
The highlight also goes to the Belgian David Goffin, who just like Nadal ended the 2021 season early because of injury and will be one more to mark his return to competition in Melbourne. Recently, the current 39th player said he believes he can still obtain good results. Stay tunned to our news section with the most up-to-date news.