Rafael Nadal has confirmed that he will indeed make his professional return at the Australian Open 2024, according to the tournament director Craig Tiley. Tiley said on The Today Show that Nadal is in regular touch with him and is determined to come out in Melbourne to win the Grand Slam. The update has certainly created ripples in the tennis world as it would be exactly 12 months since the Spaniard hasn’t played.
Many believe though that Rafael Nadal has struggled the most at the Australian Open out of all the other Grand Slams he has played. However, the 22-time Grand Slam champion has denied that on many occasions by considering Melbourne as one of his favourite venues to play in across the world. Nadal comically busted the myth in a more direct manner to a journalist back in 2022.
Rafael Nadal brought out his funny side in 2022 in Melbourne
Rafael Nadal had beaten USA’s Maxime Cressy 7-6, 6-3 in the final match of the Melbourne Summer Set, an ATP 250 event just prior to the Australian Open 2022. It gave the Spanish legend huge confidence going into the Grand Slam, which was evident as he went on to later win it empathically. However, in the post-match press conference of the Melbourne Summer Set, Nadal was asked perhaps the strangest question in his whole career.
A journalist from The Times, Stuart Fraser assumed wrongly that Rafael Nadal had never made it past the semifinals of the Grand Slam since 2009. This is because Nadal had only won the Australian Open that year prior to 2022. Based on that, he asked Nadal about what specifically he finds difficult about playing in Australia.
In response, Rafael Nadal took it sportingly and said ‘I am very sorry to tell you though I do not want to correct you.’ Nadal then went on to mention that he did make it to the 2012, 2014 and 2017 finals of the Australian Open (although he did say 2018 wrongly). The 2-time Australian Open champion wanted to drive home the point that his biggest challenge over the years when it comes to playing the first Grand Slam of the year is the injuries that he sustained, which couldn’t make him win as many times as he would have liked to.
Even if you aren’t a sports journalist and are doing a favour for a friend, it’s called basic research no? 🤦♀️ pic.twitter.com/TsjLvhmwyV
— Anu Menon (@ExLolaKutty) January 10, 2022
After the press conference, Fraser himself addressed the goofup on Twitter and jokingly claimed that he might not get a visa to travel to Australia for messing with Rafael Nadal.
It’s been a long week. Just told Rafael Nadal he hadn’t reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open since 2009. Decent chance I’ll be stopped at the border for that…
— Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) January 9, 2022
Nadal Australian Open 2009 and 2022 wins
Rafael Nadal had first won the Australian Open in 2009, defeating Roger Federer famously in the final. After the match, Federer admitted that Nadal has the upper hand over him due to the Spaniard dominating their rivalry for most of 2008 and being left-handed secondly. It also happened to be Nadal’s first hard court Grand Slam title win.
It took Rafael Nadal another 13 years to clinch his second title in Melbourne largely due to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s dominance. Nadal made the most of Djokovic and Federer’s absence on his comeback and defeated Daniil Medvedev after bouncing back from two sets down in the final. It was Nadal’s 21st Grand Slam win that took him past Federer co-incidentally.
