In these two days, Nadal will beWith his comeback at Brisbane International making headlines, we take this opportunity to take a look back at Natto's performance in the run-up to the Australian Open and look forward to his comeback prospects.
Nadal has opted for Brisbane as the first stop of his comeback, which will be his second career trip to Queensland. After recovering from injury, the veteran Spaniard believes he is fit to play in next season's competition.
Throughout his career, natto has been synonymous with patience and perseverance. For him, every point is a match point, and he plays like his life depends on the game. How long he can play in the current situation remains a mystery, but no one doubts his resilience on the court.
If you take a closer look at Natto's results in the previous events at the Australian Open, fans should be optimistic about his prospects. Of the 22 Grand Slam titles he has won, two have come in Australia. In his tennis career, the Australian Open has been the place where he has had many heartbreaking moments.
He missed out on the title in the finals on multiple occasions, retired from key tournaments, and lost to McDonald last year. It's important for natto to win some tournaments before next year's Australian Open.
Nadal went to Melbourne not to recharge, but to win a Grand Slam. He reached six Australian Open finals, and in five of those years he played at least one warm-up event (ATP event), with the exception of 2019.
The results in the warm-up matches seem to be a barometer of his performance at the Australian Open, and if he performs well in these tournaments, then he will also have a good result at the Australian Open. Historically, this has been the case. If you take his six Australian Open finals as a sample, you can see that he has won two warm-up matches – Doha in 2014 and Melbourne Summer Set 1 in 2022.
He reached the quarterfinals at the Doha Open in early 2009. This year he won the Australian Open, beating Federer in the final. In Doha in 2012, he reached the last four, but this time he failed to smile and lost to Djokovic in five sets in the final a few weeks later.
Nadal's only trip to Brisbane was in 2017. Coincidentally, he was also returning from a long truce at the time, just like the current situation. There he reached the quarter-finals and two weeks later he reached the final of the Australian Open, only to lose to Federer. I don't know what the outcome of this trip to Australia will be.
His most recent Australian Open was this year's United Cup, where he lost two singles matches. At the start of 2022, he had an evocative Australian summer when he won one tournament in Melbourne, which became the catalyst for his second Australian Open title.