We have not yet kicked off the next season and the Open de Australia 2022 He already lives between concerns for the players who may not travel to Oceania. There are already some who gave their refusal to mandatory vaccination and that, therefore, they will not attend the first Grand Slam of the year; however, the vast majority of the circuit does have the complete injection pattern, which lowered the unknowns. However, with the global increase in cases in Europe and the appearance of the Omicron variant, there is a new halo of concern regarding infections. Several of them have occurred in Abu Dhabi: there Emma Raducanu was infected, who remains isolated until she meets the established deadlines after becoming infected … and, just upon her return from the Emirates, Rafael Nadal it has also tested positive.
This obviously happens with some room for maneuver for the next Australian Open. The deadlines are still flexible and the contagion has occurred weeks after the start of the first big event, but this positive can seriously compromise the viability of the workplan that the Mallorcan had established. If we pay attention to its initial calendar, which included the exhibition of Abu Dhabi, the tournament ATP 250 Melbourne 2022 and the next Australian Open, Rafa’s presence in the preparation tournament played on Australian soil seems somewhat more complicated. Everything will depend on the consequences of the virus, the severity of his symptoms and how Rafa thinks he should prepare.
There are not many details in his official statement, but it is no secret that Nadal leave all doors open. From sticking to his schedule to giving up the Australian tour, every scenario seems imaginable. So, let’s analyze how the positive for coronavirus can alter any of the plans to be drawn. In the first place, let’s go with the implications towards the calendar proposed by Rafa’s work team.
Once the Abu Dhabi tournament was played, the sensations have not been all bad, although they indicate that the Emirati event was only the first touchstone of a long reactivation process after six months without competing at a professional level. A good start that showed the aspects to be recovered (lateral and forward mobility) and the characteristics that, with the evolution of time, should become more visible in Rafa’s game (greater aggressiveness and better service percentages). So far, good. Abu Dhabi could not be understood without a gradual increase in competitive demand, going through the first official competitive tournament (Melbourne, a 250 without the ATP Cup competition) and, having already gotten used to the conditions of the Australian city in an event of these characteristics, the return to the Grand Slam and the cinco sets at the Australian Open.
Now: to keep this plan, Rafa must travel on January 29, departure date of one of the several charter flights chartered by Tennis Australia. It was the designated day to travel long before the positive, giving himself time to land in Australia, give negative in the PCR test upon arrival and be able to train a couple of days before the start of the tournament (Melbourne begins January 3-4). However, the confinement establishes ten days of confinement, which would cause Rafa to be able to return to training on December 26 or 27. Will you risk traveling to another continent with just two days of training behind his back, even more so after being in quarantine for ten days without touching the racket? Seeing the meticulousness and detail that the manacorí put in his return to the ring, it does not seem something plausible.
MISSING MELBOURNE AND RETURNING IN THE OPEN, THE MOST OPTIMISTIC
If Rafa decided not to attend the 250 tournament, the margin of action for the Australian Open would be much greater, without the need to take the plane before the end of the year and with the possibility of training, both at his Academy and at the Melbourne Park facilities, for almost three weeks before the first Grand Slam of the year begins (will start on the 17th integer). Returning to the Rod Laver Arena entails a greater risk, but it seems a more sensible option since it would give more time to recover the form and, at least, reach the peaks experienced in Abu Dhabi, with the hope of a first week with a soft frame that allowed Rafa to gain pace in the face of the great obstacles of the second week.
Of course, we can also put ourselves in the most catastrophic possibility: cancel the return to the slopes in Australia due to the setback of the virus, accumulating more time of filming at home, ruling out 100% the possibility that the virus could leave some kind of sequel in his body and looking for a return to the competition of lesser entity, which could occur in the tournament from Acapulco (or some previous hard court event) or even the South American clay court tour (in the style of what happened in 2013). They are speculations about the future of plans that may never happen, but what is clear is that the presence of the damn virus will force Rafa to restructure his entire plan for a return planned in detail. And you, how do you see it? Will Nadal play the next Australian Open?
.
