(Brisbane) The Spaniard Rafael Nadal, absent from world tennis for almost a year, will face a player from the qualifications for his return to competition during the first round of the Brisbane tennis tournament, a preparation competition for the Internationals of Australia during which the Japanese Naomi Osaka also returns to the courts, according to the draw made on Saturday.
The date of the match (Sunday or Monday) and the name of the opponent of the 37-year-old former world number one, winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments, will be known later, with qualifying due to end on Saturday afternoon . Among the players currently competing in this qualifying phase are the Austrian Dominic Thiem and the Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, two former World Top 10 players.
Nadal has not played since his defeat at the Australian Open in January 2023, after which he underwent two hip surgeries that kept him away from the courts and almost ended his career.
His return to Brisbane, a tournament for which he obtained a “wild card”, is eagerly awaited as he could play his last season.
“I feel good,” he said on Friday at a promotional event in Brisbane, while specifying that he “doesn’t expect much” from his return to competition. “I’m not going to complain, I feel much better than I could have hoped for a month ago, but in my opinion it’s impossible to think about winning tournaments today.”
“Nothing is impossible, but for me, just being here is a victory,” he added.
Another highly anticipated return: that of the Japanese Naomi Osaka, who has not played since the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September 2022, faced in particular with mental health concerns, and who also had a child in July.
“Right after Tokyo, for about a month, I was thinking about retirement because I felt like all my joy for the sport had gone,” she said in Brisbane on Saturday. “But I figured I’d been playing tennis since I was three and there was still so much I wanted to do.”
“The time I spent outside allowed me to appreciate sport more,” continued the former world number one with four Grand Slam titles (two Australian Opens and two US Opens). United). “I think becoming a mother has changed my mindset a lot. […] I am much more open-minded, much more patient, but I also feel much stronger physically,” she added.
Naomi Osaka, who also benefited from a “wild card” in Brisbane, will face German Tamara Korpatsch, 84th player in the world, in the first round.
“I’m nervous, I haven’t played a match in a long time, but I’m competitive, so I think I’m nervous and I want to win,” Osaka said.
The WTA 500 and ATP 250 in Brisbane run from December 31 to January 7. These meetings are widely used by players as preparation for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season a week later.
