Toni Nadal ‘excited’ to see Rafael Nadal return to Wimbledon next year
Toni Nadal has revealed he is “enormously excited” to see his nephew Rafael Nadal recover from injury and compete at Wimbledon in 2024.
The esteemed coach also reflected on the experience of the 22-time Grand Slam champion competing at Wimbledon for the first time and how it was significant.
Nadal is not competing at this year’s Wimbledon Championships as he continues to recover from injury. The 37-year-old had a successful surgery on his hip last month and is expected to miss most, if not all, of the rest of the 2023 season.
The Spaniard has not competed since losing to Mackenzie MacDonald in the second round of the Australian Open in January. Prior to the French Open, Nadal revealed 2024 would likely be his final year on tour.
The former world No 1 is a two-time Wimbledon champion, triumphing at the All England Club in 2008 and 2010. He was also a runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2011.
Toni Nadal, who coached the Mallorcan from his childhood until 2017, was positive his nephew would be back competing at Wimbledon next year.
“I am enormously excited to see my nephew’s recovery and see his return next year to this magnificent setting to prove, as [singer and songwriter] Carlos Gardel said, that 20 years are nothing,” Nadal wrote in El Pais.
The 62-year-old also looked back on Nadal’s maiden Wimbledon campaign, which was his Grand Slam debut.
“He was just 17 years old and his professional career was limited to three previous tournaments: Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Hamburg. His first meeting was on court No. 7 against the Croatian Mario Ancic,” continued Nadal.
“Despite then-tennis guru Nick Bollettieri’s prediction that our opponent would prevail easily, Rafael managed to not only win the match in four sets, but also reach a creditable third round. He then beat Englishman Lee Childs before he fell to Thai player Paradorn Srichaphan.
“That first experience helped us to return home with the confidence that, indeed, my nephew’s play could be adapted to the grass surface. ‘One day we have to win here’, I told him before leaving the club and flying back to Mallorca.
“I remember that precise moment and how this phrase became one of the great hopes in Rafael’s career. Good proof that we put in all our efforts were the five consecutive finals that he played on the Centre Court of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.”
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