Watch: Rafael Nadal shows off neat trick, picks up tennis balls off the ground using only his feet

Rafael Nadal has been getting in some high-quality practice on the court in Kuwait since last week. The Spaniard entertained fans who had come to watch his training session earlier on Tuesday (December 12), as he performed a neat trick using only his feet.

The 22-time Major winner announced in early December that he would make his much-awaited return to professional tennis at the 2024 Brisbane International. A deep run at the ATP 250 event would be of great help to Nadal in the lead-up to the Australian Open.

The Spaniard has been pulling out all the stops to prepare for competitive tennis next year. He arrived at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait a few days ago for pre-season training ahead of 2024.

Nadal exuded high-spirited body language on Tuesday, if a video shot by a fan from the stands is anything to go by. He performed his signature move after a long drill, picking up tennis balls smoothly off the ground using only his feet.

After the ball was in the air, he heel-kicked the ball toward one of his team members.

Rafael Nadal has received a wildcard to play singles at Brisbane International

Rafael Nadal poses with the 2022 Australian Open trophy

Rafael Nadal fell to a lowly 668th in the ATP rankings in November, owing to his prolonged absence from the tour. The Spaniard failed to defend most of his 2022 points this year, as his last pro-tour event came at the Australian Open.

Therefore, the 22-time Major winner had to be granted a wildcard to enter the singles draw of the 2024 Brisbane International. He will be joined by top seeds Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov and Ben Shelton at the tournament.

Nadal has participated at the 250-level event in Brisbane only once in his career. The Spaniard was seeded fifth at the 2017 edition of the tournament and reached the last eight, where he was beaten in three sets by Milos Raonic.

For what it's worth, the Matador hasn't played a tune-up event to the Australian Open on many occasions in the last decade. He did benefit from participating in the Australian summer lead-up in 2022, though. Nadal played and won Melbourne Summer Set 1 with relative ease, which proved rather auspicious for the rest of his season.

The then-35-year-old went on to surprise the entire tennis universe at the Melbourne Slam, beating Daniil Medvedev from two sets down to complete an elusive Double Career Grand Slam.

He won his 22nd and last Grand Slam tournament at the French Open later that year, fighting past the likes of Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud to take home his 14th Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy.