Nadal crashed out in doubles and knows his opponent in singles. Will he fix his appetite?

Legendary Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal made his return to the ATP scene by participating in a doubles tournament. Alongside his coach Lopez, he failed. But a lot of attention is being paid to his comeback in singles. And here he finally knows his opponent.

Nadal in doubles

Even before his return to the singles carousel, Rafael Nadal entered a competitive doubles match. His partner in the Brisbane tournament was his coach Marc Lopez.

In this line-up, by the way, they won the Olympic gold medals in Brazil in 2016. However, the start of the 2024 season was much less successful for them.

Against the home duo Purcell/Thompson, the Spanish pair did not even win a set and after a 4:6, 4:6 defeat, they said goodbye to the tournament as soon as they entered. Nadal nevertheless impressed with this uncompromising backhand, for example.

But Nadal’s unsuccessful start in Brisbane is no tragedy. After all, the aforementioned doubles duel was more of a complement.

Singles opponent

The draw of the Brisbane tournament was rather merciful to Nadal. The thirty-seven-year-old Spaniard faced a qualifying opponent.

In the end, there will be no match against the representative of the Czech Republic, even though our Tomas Machac successfully passed the qualifying part of this tournament. Nadal will face the winner of the US Open 2020 Dominic Thiem.

However, the Austrian has been trying in vain to return to the limelight for a long time. But he never gives up. He demonstrated this perfectly a few days ago in the qualification for the event in Brisbane.

Against his opponent, Thiem fended off three match points in the second set, only to win the second set in a tiebreak and the match in the third set. So Nadal definitely has an interesting opponent in his way.

To conclude

Rafael Nadal is actually facing a symbolic opponent. It is Thiem, after a medical break, who has not yet achieved even a hint of his previous results.

Of course, they were not as dazzling as Nadal’s. Still, the Spaniard will definitely welcome a good start to his comeback. He will have the opportunity to do so on Tuesday.

Sources: ATP, X