(Madrid) Toni Nadal, uncle and coach of Rafael Nadal, assured Spanish television TVE on Tuesday that “there is not much missing” for his protege, currently injured in a hip, to return to competition and aim for a 14th coronation at Roland-Garros, in a month.
“Rafael is in the process of healing, there is not much missing for him to return to competition. But it was not possible for him to be present at this tournament (in Madrid, editor’s note). It’s one of the tournaments that excites him the most, but we’ll have to wait another year” to see him at the Madrid Masters 1000, Toni Nadal said in a brief interview with TVE.
“Obviously, he won’t arrive with very good preparation (at Roland-Garros, editor’s note), we must not hide our face. I believe he hasn’t played a game since January 10, and before that he hadn’t played much competitively either. But I think Rafael knows how to get back to form pretty quickly,” added Toni Nadal optimistically.
“In a Grand Slam tournament, a lot depends on the draw. If you are lucky enough to have a fairly accessible draw in the first rounds, after…” said Rafael Nadal’s coach.
“Rafael, in the second week, he is still one of the favourites. In the first week, lately, he really isn’t. He wasn’t in Australia, but in the second week, you start thinking to yourself “well, maybe we have to take him into account…”. And we hope we can say the same thing at Roland-Garros, ”said Toni Nadal.
Nadal, 36, suffered a psoas (hip flexor) injury at the Australian Open in January and has been forced to withdraw from all competitions he has been scheduled to play since then.
“I was originally supposed to be out for six to eight weeks, but we are already heading towards the fourteenth […] The situation is not what we had hoped for. We followed all the medical prescriptions, but for some unknown reason the injury did not progress as we were told,” the Spaniard said in a video released Thursday announcing his withdrawal from Madrid.
Nadal, tied with Novak Djokovic at the top of the number of Grand Slam titles won (22), will try to get a 23rd crown at the Internationals of France.
“We dream of that, us the family, and him too. I think he has the mind to go get it,” Toni Nadal concluded on Tuesday.