Leading coach thinks there are ‘two explanations’ for Rafael Nadal deciding to play Australian Open
Patrick Mouratoglou has claimed there are “two explanations” for Rafael Nadal wanting to play the 2024 Australian Open and warned the tennis legend “will always be dangerous” if healthy.
The high-profile coach believes Nadal has decided to play the year’s first Grand Slam either because he thinks 2024 will be his last season or “he feels good.”
Nadal recently announced he would be making his long-awaited return to action at the Brisbane International tournament in January in preparation for the 2024 Australian Open.
The Spaniard has not competed since suffering a hip injury in his second round loss to Mackenzie McDonald at the 2023 Australian Open in January. The 37-year-old underwent surgery to address the issue in June, having initially expected to be out for only six to eight weeks.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion was forced to cancel his planned comeback during this year’s clay-court season and missed the French Open for the first time since 2004. When announcing his withdrawal from Roland Garros, Nadal revealed that 2024 would likely be his final season on the tour.
The former world No 1 won his most recent title at the 2022 French Open, where he claimed a record-extending 14th crown with a straight-set final victory over Casper Ruud.
Nadal is a two-time Australian Open champion, having triumphed in Melbourne in 2009 and 2022 with five-set wins over Roger Federer and Daniil Medvedev in the respective finals.
Mouratoglou assessed why Nadal has opted to make his comeback at the start of 2024 and expressed his eagerness to see the Mallorcan take on young ATP stars who have developed during his absence.
“The fact that he wants to play the Australian Open, there are two explanations. The first one is maybe he thinks it’s his last year and he wants to play,” the Frenchman told Eurosport.
“But the second can be if he feels good, because if he wouldn’t feel that good, he would probably go skip it and go straight to clay, probably in South America and get ready for Roland Garros, which will be for sure the most important tournament of his season, because that’s the Grand Slam he has the best chance to win.
“The fact that he was out for so long makes people feel that probably his body is not great, considering his age and the fact that again he had to stop for so long.
“But if he feels good physically, he will always be dangerous. It’s going to be interesting because now the young guys have progressed a lot while he was out of the courts.
“So I’m really looking forward to seeing those young guys play against him and see how he can do against them with such a long absence also.”
Mouratoglou, who coaches at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France, has worked with several tennis stars, including Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Coco Gauff, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune.
