The Australian Open released this Thursday the initial list of tennis players registered for the first Grand Slam of 2024.
++ Guardiola suffers greatest rival dominance in his career in defeat to Aston Villa
Rafael Nadal is among the names guaranteed at the Melbourne tournament in January. The Spanish star has recovered from the hip injury that sidelined him for almost a year.
With this, the owner of 22 Grand Slam titles, Nadal is thinking about saying goodbye to tennis in the 2024 season.
At 37 years old, he had been dealing with repeated injuries, but he recovered and had already announced his return for the ATP 250 in Brisbane, which opens the year and serves as preparation for the Australian Open.
++ Formula 1 teams deny complaints about Toto and Susie Wolff
The Spaniard will enter the Grand Slam with a protected ranking equivalent to number 9 in the world – the protected ranking is used when an injury takes the tennis player out of the ATP circuit for at least six months.
Therefore, in addition to Nadal, the Australian Open will feature the main names in tennis. Among the men, Serbian Novak Djokovic, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, Russian Daniil Medvedev and Italian Jannik Sinner top the list of entries.
Among the women, Polish Iga Swiatek, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, American Coco Gauff and Kazakh Elena Rybakina are the highlights.
It’s worth remembering that Rafael Nadal hasn’t taken the court since January 18, when he was eliminated in the second round of the Australian Open. He had been turning down tournament invitations ever since.
The Spaniard is the second biggest winner of Grand Slams, with 22 titles. Unable to defend his points in the ATP (Tennis Professionals Association) world rankings, Nadal appeared outside the top 100 for the first time in 20 years. The tennis player fell from 15th to 136th position. Since April 2003 he has not been among the hundred players.