'Injured' Rafael Nadal's training video hints at star's comeback at Australian Open

Rafael Nadal's season finished just after Roland Garros when his chronic foot injury flared up again which made him withdraw from Wimbledon and then the Tokyo Olympics. He attempted to make a comeback in August at Washington but his injury flared up once again and Nadal stated that he will not be able to participate in any tennis events for the remainder of the year including the US Open. However, it has been two months since the announcement and he was recently seen back in training with videos of him going at it on the practice court now surfacing the internet.

Nadal will be hoping he can be fully fit for the first Grand Slam of the year in 2022, the Australian Open in January next year. There, he will be competing for the record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title that will take him past Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic with all three of them tied at 20 major titles each. Though because of his injury, Nadal’s ranking has seen him drop from the top five, a comeback at the Australian Open could propel him back into the elusive category.

Rafael Nadal 2021 Stats

So far Nadal has a win-loss record of 24-5 for the 2021 season. He has picked up two titles, first the ATP 500 event in Barcelona and then the ATP Master 1000 in Rome. At the Grand Slams, he first lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Australian Open quarter-finals and then probably one of his most shocking defeats in the semi-finals of the Roland Garros to Novak Djokovic. The French Open loss was the first time he's ever lost in the semi-finals at the French Open, it was also amazingly only his third ever loss at there with a win-loss record of 105-3. Following that he pulled out of the Wimbledon, Tokyo Olympics and then the US Open.

Rafa's recurring foot injury

Nadal spoke about the injury saying that he has had it since 2005 and that the doctors were very pessimistic in their view of his future in the sport however he fought all odds to win 20 Grand Slam titles and be tied for the highest with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Nadal also mentioned that if his injury heals well then he can bring back his tennis to its former glory.

"The injury is nothing new, it is the same injury I've had since 2005, the doctors then were very negative about my future career but I had a career I never dreamed about and so I am confident that I recover again. If my foot is better I'm confident that my tennis and my mentality will be there again soon and so you can be sure is that I will fight every single day to make that happen," Nadal said in the video uploaded to the ATP Tour Twitter page back in August.

(Image: AP)