Rafael Nadal is in Kuwait, where he’s practicing with Arthur Fils, and according to the reports from the Academy, he won the practice set they played.
Fils just played at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, and he’s in game shape and playing at a pretty decent level. He’s not a Challenger player who can’t play well, so the fact that Nadal was able to win a practice with him is a great sign.
Judging by some of the videos and some of the reports, Nadal’s movement is not ideal, which is expected, but it will come with time and more matches. He still has a full week of practices with Fils and will spend a bit more time in Kuwait before he touches down in Australia.
We’re only about 20 days from his official comeback at the Brisbane International, so excitement is slowly building up, and that’s why their practice set was closely followed.
Nadal will be better with every practice, and fans are already loving the Spaniard’s comeback story. Nadal toned down any expectations ahead of his comeback, which is normal but don’t assume that it means that he’s going to play bad tennis.
It might not be good enough to win trophies immediately, but if everything goes well and his health holds up, he’ll get to that competitive stage pretty quickly, which beating Fils 7-6 in a practice set just proves.
Ultimately, competitive matches will show us best what the situation is, and that’s about three weeks away. For now, players get back to practicing, and the excitement for the new season builds.
Nadal is already on the courts as his main rival, Novak Djokovic, is about to start working again. Funnily enough, Djokovic will practice with Hamad Medjedovic in Dubai, which is interesting as both Nadal and the Serbian are practicing with the ATP Next Gen Finalists this year.
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