Rafael Nadal's sister Mariabel expresses excitement for the Spaniard's return to court in clay season

On Tuesday, Rafael Nadal announced that he has withdrawn from the 2023 Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open. However, he is expected to return to the tour during the clay season.

In January, the 22-time Grand Slam champion limped out of his Australian Open second-round encounter against Mackenzie McDonald. He was clearly dealing with an injury for the majority of the game. The Spaniard also withdrew from the 2023 Qatar Open and the Dubai Tennis Championships the following month.

Nadal recently stated that he is in rehab and receiving physiotherapy. He included a video of himself working out hard in the gym, saying he was looking forward to getting back to his best soon.

After watching the former World No. 1's video, his sister Mariabel expressed happiness about her brother's return.

"💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼," she commented under the post.

Mariabel Nadal's comment under Rafael Nadal's post

Nadal would no doubt be disappointed to have missed the opening two Masters 1000 events of the season. He does, however, intend to travel to the United States for the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open in August.

The 14-time French Open champion will also, crucially, want to recover from his injury before the clay season commences.

Rafael Nadal drops to his lowest position in the world rankings since 2017

The Spaniard at the 2023 Australian Open

Rafael Nadal fell to World No. 8 in the ATP rankings, his lowest position since January 2017. The Spaniard will lose 500 points this week after being unable to defend his Mexican Open title at Acapulco. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev's back-to-back triumphs mean he has already surpassed the former World No.1 in the rankings.

After withdrawing from the 2023 Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open, Nadal faces a loss of 600 points gained as last year's finalist at the former event, putting his top-10 streak in jeopardy. He is presently in his 910th straight week as a top-10-ranked player, having never been out of the top 10 since his debut in April of 2005.

Nadal is unlikely to break Martina Navratilova's all-time record of 1000 straight weeks in the top 10. That said, since the Mallorca native missed both the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open in 2022 due to injuries, he will not have many points to defend in the clay season.