Rafael Nadal recovery update: Spaniard's team optimistic with evolution of injury

Rafael Nadal's doctor recently said he was optimistic about the Spaniard's return but was reluctant to confirm the exact date.

Nadal has not played a competitive match since a second-round exit from January's Australian Open. He is currently recovering from a hip injury. His absence from tennis tournaments was supposed to last a few weeks but was stretched owing to the complications in recovery.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion was supposed to represent Spain in the Davis Cup Final 8 event, beginning November 21. The national side, nevertheless, failed to qualify for the tournament's final stage with poor performance during the Finals held in Valencia in September.

Recently, the 37-year-old hinted at a comeback as he posted a video of himself playing a practice match in his academy in Mallorca. His doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro, however, has refrained from marking the tennis superstar's point of return on the calendar. Cotorro addressed IB3 News while attending a recent conference on tennis medicine in Mallorca.

The doctor has suggested that Nadal's return will depend on various factors. He opined that they needed to schedule the 2024 season to begin with. Despite the recovery process progressing smoothly, several things must be analyzed, as per Cotorro.

He further recommended that with next season's first Grand Slam tournament being the Australian Open, where the matches are best-of-five sets, Nadal and his team must tread with caution.

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Rafael Nadal - "The dream is not to come back and win Roland Garros or win Australia"

2023 Australian Open - Day 3

Much to the disappointment of his fans, Rafael Nadal recently said that once he picks up the racket again, he won't chase titles in Paris, where he has won 14 times, or Melbourne, where he has won twice.

"Yes, I would like to play again and be competitive again, but the dream is not to come back and win Roland Garros or win Australia, so that people don't get confused, right?" he said during a recent interview with Movistar+.

The Spaniard indicated that he would stay away from setting unrealistic expectations for himself at the age of 37.

"I am very aware that at the time I am in my life, all that is very far away, right? And I don't say it's impossible because in the end I say things, I have said it a thousand times, all things in sport, they change very quickly," he added.