Rafael Nadal recently concluded his visit to the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait for practising ahead of the Australian summer of 2024. The Spaniard thrilled visitors there as well as tennis fans on social media with some clips from his practice sessions, including some with NextGen youngster, Arthur Fils from France. Fils has reportedly told Roger Federer’s former coach, Ivan Ljubicic that Nadal’s level of tennis and fitness, both are extremely high at the moment.
This turns out to some very good news for fans of Rafael Nadal, many of whom while being excited, are worried as to how the 22-time Grand Slam champion will keep up with the rigors of the game. Nadal earlier announced on social media that he could not give a timeline of how long would his farewell season in 2024 last, since he isn’t certain about his fitness. But another training video of the Spaniard has gone viral on social media, in which he looks in extremely good touch, flow and with top stamina, which echoes Fils’ sentiments.
Rafael Nadal is expected to mark his tennis comeback at the Brisbane International 2024, which will also be headlined by Holger Rune as well as former champions Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov amongst others. Nadal will participate at the Australian Open 2024 using his protected ranking of No.9 rather than being a wildcard or playing qualifying matches. But even then, the 2-time champion in Melbourne is expected to have a higher ranked opponent in either of his first 2-3 rounds since technically, he is the 102nd player to make it in the 128-player draw.
A section of fans are speculating that the Australian Open 2024 organisers, led by Craig Tiley, might give Rafael Nadal an easier outing in the first 3 rounds at least since he is arguably the biggest name in the tournament to play alongside Novak Djokovic. Regardless, Rafael Nadal will look for a super start to the 2024 season Down Under and then perhaps, move to play in the Netflix Slam match in Las Vegas.
Rafael Nadal to create history by playing in Netflix’s first-ever tennis match
It is likely that going ahead, Rafael Nadal could continue playing tennis but in the form of one-off exhibition matches. It is no secret that Nadal likes to travel the world to promote tennis and meet his fans everywhere by playing in such entertaining contests. The 37-year-old will take on his potential successor from Spain, Carlos Alcaraz in a ‘Netflix Slam’ match on March 3, 2024.
The match was supposed to take place this year but was called off as both players were unavailable due to injuries. It is set to be Netflix’s first-ever foray into live tennis broadcasting, marking a huge step in the OTT giant’s evolution. It is also expected that ticket sales in Vegas will cross $1 million in the anticipation to see Nadal, although many hope not for the last time especially in the United States.
