Alex Corretja’s Optimistic View on Rafa Nadal’s Return to Tennis

Nadal in one of his last press conferences (REUTERS/Miquel Borras)

2024 will be, there is no doubt, the year of Rafa Nadal’s return to tennis. It is still not clear whether or not we will attend the Spaniard’s last season in the ATP. Everything will depend on the level he shows on the slopes starting this January, when he will return to competition in Brisbane. This tournament will serve as preparation for the Australian Open, the first major of each course and an important event, always and also in this case, for the second man with the most Grand Slams in history (22).

The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal confirmed this Friday that he will return to the courts after almost a year of absence due to injury. The Brisbane (Australia) tournament, of the ATP 250 category, which will be held between December 31 and January 7, will be where he debuts

In recent days, Nadal has been training with an intensity already worthy of the elite he is about to rejoin. As much as his ranking is extremely low (666), no one will want to have him on the other side of the net in just a few days. Neither because of the legacy that he treasures in the sport of racket nor because of the level that he is showing when practicing with players like Arthur Fils or Richard Gasquet, as they themselves have attested.

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With so little time left for the Spaniard to compete again, analyzes of the version of Nadal that can be expected are the order of the day. One of the most complete, at a time when the Manacor native is on everyone’s lips, was left by Álex Corretja.

The former player is one of the great Spanish tennis names, thanks to milestones such as his victories in the 1998 ATP Finals and, along with the rest of the Spanish team, the 2000 Davis Cup. He also won an Olympic bronze in doubles in Sydney 2000 and He became number two in the world, reaching the final of Roland Garros twice (1998 and 2001). Hence, in his role as a commentator, he is a more than authorized voice to give his opinion on Nadal.

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“I think Rafa is going to do something to try not so much to surprise his rivals, which may be, so that they don’t expect something from him, but he is going to incorporate things. From what I’ve seen, his arm is releasing it much more relaxed. He is letting go. I think that at some moments Rafa knew that by putting many balls in he would win many games. And that, at some point, perhaps made him not risk so much. Because he knew that he was going to beat practically everyone in this way,” Corretja said in statements to Eurosport, with whom he regularly collaborates.

Álex Corretja in an archive image (Europa Press)

“Later, he realized that he had to shorten the parallel right much more. Maybe also change the position in the rest. The backhand is essential for him to open the court. And then the serve. I think it has to be an important weapon for Rafa, in which he plays relaxed with his wrist, that the ball flows, that he hurts his rivals,” he adds. “But the most important thing is that the ball runs for him. Rafa can’t be playing just running, waiting for his rivals to kill him and for him to beat them epically. That would be a wear and tear that his body would not assimilate as well as when he was 25 years old,” the Barcelonan then highlights.

The conclusion that Corretja draws could not be more positive for Nadal’s interests: “It seems to me that we are going to see a much more aggressive, much more forceful Rafa. And although he is going to have his game pattern and a little bit of what his principles and tennis values ​​are, but something looser, in my opinion, we are going to find it.”

Regarding the final stretch of his setup, Corretja also sees reasons for optimism. “I think he is making a very good progression, he is taking his time. Little by little, he has been improving his sensations. First, he has started with more controlled exercises. Then, with movements. Logically, later you have to add some points. And now there is the step of playing sets, which I believe is what shows you the way a little,” she asserts.

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As to why he chose rather young sparring partners to test himself, Corretja also has no doubts. “I think because he also wants to adapt to the speed of players who are going to impose a lot of pace on him. On the other hand, they are players like Fils, who is a player who is very aggressive, but is also consistent. That he is not like a crazy man, that he is going to give him a good rhythm, that he is going to have a good relationship with him, because he is a very good boy, that he is with Sergi Bruguera, that he also has a magnificent relationship with Rafa, Carlos Costa and the whole environment,” highlights the Frenchman, who worked with Nadal in Kuwait.

Nadal in a file image (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

“In the end, when you go to a place that is not your home, what you want is to be with a team that you can train, but also have fun, laugh, talk about other things when you are away from the track. That’s why I think he has looked for this bubble that helps him find what he needs to say ‘okay, I’m ready to make the jump to the circuit in January.’ That is going to be another step forward. But he is doing the closest thing so that, when Brisbane arrives, it will already be something recognized for him to play with players who are demanding him in a current way on the circuit. In the end, he hasn’t been playing for 11 months, and that’s why he looks for young people to push him too,” Corretja says.

2023-12-20 20:48:00
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