After four months away from the court, 20 Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal will play at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, an exhibition tennis tournament in Abu Dhabi, which is set to start this week.
Nadal, who suffers from a condition in his foot, will try to belt court-time ahead of the 2022 Australian Open and the ATP Cup, two events he’s going to compete in. The 35-year old will try to win his 21 GS crown and get ahead in the GOAT race between him, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
However, with little time on court, many fans are worried about his physical condition and they wonder if he would be able to pull off a winning comeback, as he did several times before. Luckily, tennis fans don’t have to wait much to wacth the Spaniard back in action.
When is Rafael Nadal playing in Abu Dhabi?
Nadal is in the lineup for the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, a three-day exhibition event in Abu Dhabi. Apart from him, other tennis stars such as Andy Murray, Andrey Rublev or Denis Shapovalov are competing as a warm up before the official start of the tour in January.
The Spaniard will play on Friday, December 17, 2021. He will face either Britain’s double Olympic singles champion Andy Murray, or Dan Evans, who took Dominic Thiem’s spot after the Austrian withdrew.
Nadal will mark his full competitive return to court at the ATP 250 event in Melbourne, beginning January 4, 2022. So, it seems like the Spaniard is trying to get as much rhythm as possible ahead of the big tournaments.