A highly anticipated Brisbane International draw ceremony was conducted on Saturday afternoon. On paper, it’s a favorable one for Rafael Nadal.
Playing in his first tournament since the 2023 Australian Open, Nadal will kick off his season against a qualifier in round one of this ATP 250. The 37-year-old Spaniard could face No. 8 seed Aslan Karatsev in the last 16 and fourth-seeded Ugo Humbert in the quarterfinals. Also in the bottom half of the bracket are No. 2 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 7 Tomas Martin Etcheverry, and Thanasi Kokkinakis. Dimitrov and Murray will be going head-to-head in a blockbuster first-round battle.
At the top of the draw, Holger Rune leads the way as the No. 1 seed. The 20-year-old Dane will get things started against Max Purcell and would then meet either Alexander Shevchenko or Luca Van Assche. Sebastian Korda and Ben Shelton are potential quarterfinal and semifinal opponents, respectively, for Rune.
In addition to Dimitrov vs. Murray, first-round matchups in Brisbane include Korda vs. Yannick Hanfmann, Shelton vs. Roman Safiullin, Marton Fucsovics vs. Matteo Arnaldi, and Aleksandar Vukic vs. Jordan Thompson.
Nadal has been back at practice for a couple of months after missing almost all of this past year due to a hip injury. Following his Australian Open exit, the 22-time Grand Slam champion hoped to return for the clay-court swing but recovery was unsuccessful and he ended up opting for surgery in June. Nadal has recently trained at his two academies–in Kuwait with Arthur Fils and in Mallorca with Richard Gasquet and Jan-Lennard Struff.
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