All the lights of the Mutua Madrid Open will be on Rafa Nadal this Wednesday. The Balearic tennis player returns to compete in an official match for almost a month and a half after the rib injury he suffered at the Masters 1,000 in Indian Wells and that forced him to give up playing several tournaments to recover from the injury with his sights set on Roland Garros.
However, some leading tennis figures believe that the fact that Rafa Nadal has not yet been able to play any match on clay this year, which could mean that the Spaniard arrives in worse shape at the Parisian Grand Slam.
One of the figures that has this opinion is Patrick Mouratouglou, former coach of Serena Williams and current coach of Simona Halep, who in a chat on France Television was skeptical about Nadal’s form. “He is going to play few games and it is very rare that he arrives in Paris with so few games. It will be strange for him. Despite his great start to the season, Rafa Nadal has always been a player who needed to play many games. He is not going to arrive in the best shape of him at Roland Garros.”
Mouratoglou’s statements have not taken long to receive a response from one of the strong men of Rafa Nadal’s team, his coach Carlos Moyàwho through his social networks responded in this way to Mouratoglou defending the achievements of his pupil. “17 years in a row in the Top-10, Roland Garros ’20 with 3 matches in 7 months, Australian Open ’22 with 3 matches in 6 months… a little respect and memory Patrick Mouratoglou”. At the moment the facts prove Moyà right, now we just need to know how Rafa Nadal will respond on the court on his return in Madrid with his eyes on Roland Garros.
