"Rafael Nadal's baby boy crying" - Andy Murray jokes about what caught his eye during practice session with Spaniard at Brisbane International 2024

Andy Murray playfully joked about the possible reasons behind his inscrutable expression during a joint practice session with Rafael Nadal at the 2024 Brisbane International.

After being sidelined for almost a year due to a hip injury, Nadal will make his return to competitive tennis at the ATP 250 event in Brisbane. While awaiting the outcome of the qualifiers to determine his singles opponent, the Spaniard will commence his doubles campaign alongside compatriot Marc Lopez, taking on the Australian duo of Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson on Sunday, December 31.

Murray, meanwhile, will lock horns with Grigor Dimitrov in his tournament opener. He will also join forces with Holger Rune in the doubles event, with the pair squaring off against Aslan Karatsev and Roman Safiullin in the first round.

Ahead of their respective tournament openers, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray took part in a joint practice session at the Queensland Tennis Centre. Later, the Brit took to social media and shared a picture of himself gazing upwards, taken during the session.

Murray hilariously invited fans to guess what had caught his attention and included a poll for their votes.

"What have I spotted up there?" he captioned his Instagram post.

The options included in the poll were - "A Bird," "A Plane," "My brother filming" and "Rafa baby boy crying 😅."

Check out Murray's poll below:

The caption on Andy Murray's Instagram post

Rafael Nadal also shared a glimpse of their training session, expressing gratitude to Murray for the "great' practice and wishing him luck for his campaign at the Brisbane International.

"Thanks @andymurray for a great practice today. Good luck at the tournament my friend," he captioned his Instagram post.

"If I'm practicing with Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, there's a bit of interest in them, not so much in me" - Andy Murray

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During a press conference at the Brisbane International, Andy Murray shed light on his experience of practicing with Rafael Nadal. He humorously remarked that his practice sessions with the Spaniard or Novak Djokovic typically attracted considerable interest, with the spotlight being entirely on them and not so much on him.

"Uusually if I'm practicing with him (Rafael Nadal) or Novak, yeah, there's a bit of interest. Well, certainly in them. Not so much in me," he said.

Murray also shared an insight into the Spaniard's level of play during their practice session, disclosing that the 37-year-old appeared to be in good physical condition and had performed well.

"Yeah, it's great to have him back playing. I mean, he's obviously working extremely hard, like always. Always very, very intense practices with him. Yeah, he looked physically good, was playing well," he added.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion and Murray have locked horns in 24 tour-level encounters, with the Spaniard enjoying a dominant 17-7 lead in their head-to-head record.