Rafael Nadal is ready to continue his season after being away from the courts for almost two months. The Spaniard arrived in Paris on Wednesday and on Thursday he did two training sessions with Quentin Halys and David Goffin. Nadal was happy to return to Paris, hoping to race next week and his fifth title of the season.
Rafa has not played singles matches since the US Open fourth round loss to Frances Tiafoe. She has been battling an abdominal injury since Wimbledon, playing just five matches after the All England Club and missing a beat. Nadal gave his best at the US Open, but it didn’t work out for him.
He returned home to Mallorca and welcomed his first child with his wife, Xisca. Rafa has been the second best player of 2022, behind Carlos Alcaraz, winning two majors and returning to the top-2 at the age of 36. Nadal was 0-20 at the start of the season before injuring a rib in Indian Wells.
He lost the final to Taylor Fritz and skipped Monte Carlo and Barcelona, his favorite events. The king of clay did not play well in Madrid and Rome after almost two months away from the courts, and the pain in his feet bothered him again before Roland Garros.
Rafa needed injections before each match and he survived all the obstacles to win the 22nd Major. Rafa reached the Wimbledon semi-final but was unable to fight Nick Kyrgios. The Spaniard revealed a seven-millimeter tear to his abdomen and left the tournament after an epic quarter-final victory against Taylor Fritz in five sets.
Nadal skipped the Canada Masters and suffered an early loss in Cincinnati to Borna Coric. Rafa couldn’t play at his best in New York, he was still in pain and retired early against Frances Tiafoe despite giving his best.
Nadal had a great 2022
Pamela Maldonado shared her opinion on Rafael Nadal’s chances at the 2022 Paris Masters, one of his least successful tournaments historically. «Some of the cons of Paris are that he has not played.
Paris is fast, that does not bode well for Nadal. Here he has a 22-6 win-loss record, no titles,” Maldonado said. “He lost to Zverev in the 2020 semi, he lost to Shapovalov in the 2019 semi. Those two names are already telling you that he fights these heavyweights on this faster surface.
So I don’t expect him to have a deep run here with a lot of great players coming to this tournament.»
