Rafael Nadal celebrates grandmother's 92nd birthday with family
Rafael Nadal's sister Maria Isabel recently shared a photo of their family gathering together to celebrate her grandmother's 92nd birthday.
Maribel posted the photo to her Instagram story on Tuesday, captioning it with a 'hug' emoticon and a sticker that read '92'. Rafael Nadal was spotted seated to the right of his grandmother, who also appeared visibly excited on the occasion.
Maria Isabel is a sports management graduate who works in Rafa's Academy's marketing department. She reportedly enjoys a strong relationship with her brother and can often be seen cheering for him during his matches.
Rafael Nadal working hard on comeback trail
Rafael Nadal is currently recovering from an abdominal injury he suffered at the 2023 Australian Open. The Spaniard was initially set to make a comeback at the Monte-Carlo Masters but later withdrew from the tournament, admitting that he was not match-fit and needed some more time on the training courts.
He then went on to withdraw from the subsequent Barcelona Open as well, and most recently, the ongoing Madrid Open, citing the same reason.
Nadal has been sharing regular updates about his practice on social media since then. The most recent one saw him trying to perfect his serve on the clay-courts of his academy in Mallorca.
Meanwhile, Nadal's coach Carlos Moya recently gave an update on the 22-time Grand Slam winner's possible participation in the Italian Open in Rome, which is the last big tournament before the French Open.
"Right now we're doing more or less an hour and a half a day and we continue to progress day by day. It's not even about being optimistic or pessimistic, just to observe the state of your progress on a daily basis," he said in an interview with L'Equipe.
"Of course these are difficult times because we missed tournaments that we love, but Rafa is a warrior, with an indestructible mind and when the time comes to return, we will be very motivated," he added. "Right now it is impossible to define the calendar, but if tomorrow when we see each other everything is correct the objective is to go to Rome and if it is not possible we will try to be at Roland Garros."
The Italian Open is set to get underway on May 9, with Roland Garros scheduled to begin on May 22.
Nadal also has a degenerative condition in his foot called Mueller-Weiss syndrome, which was first diagnosed at the start of his career. It is a disease where the navicular bone (located in the mid-foot region) undergoes spontaneous osteonecrosis in adults. That causes blood to be cut off from the navicular bone, which in turn leads to pain and deformity in the mid-foot and hindfoot regions.