Rafael Nadal's sister Maribel wishes him on 37th birthday amid successful hip surgery
Tennis great Rafael Nadal's younger sister, Maribel, recently wished him well as he turned 37 on Friday, June 3.
On the same day, the Spaniard also updated his fans about his health, saying that he had successful hip surgery. The injury has kept him on the sidelines since his shock Australian Open exit in the second round this January.
The former World No. 1 turned to social media to provide updates about his health and surgery, and assured his fans that the surgery "went well."
"Hello everyone. As you know last night I had surgery. Everything went well and the arthroscopy was on the left psoas tendon that has kept me out of competition since January," the Spanish veteran wrote on social media.
Amidst his successful surgery, the 37-year-old's sister wished the southpaw on his birthday. The 34-year-old posted a picture of his brother from their recent trip to Greece and put a few birthday cake emoticons along with a happy birthday hashtag.
"🎂🎂💛🤗 #happybirthday," Maribel captioned her Instagram post.
Maribel is a sports management graduate and currently works in the marketing department of the 22-time Grand Slam winner's tennis academy. Earlier this week, Maribel accompanied her brother as the duo visited the academy in Greece. She even posted a few pictures of her spending time with the members there and hoped to come back again.
"Amazing days with the @rafanadaltenniscentre team in Greece 👏🏼 asta See you soon," she wrote on Instagram.
Rafael Nadal's is expected to recover in five months
Rafael Nadal missed the 2023 French Open for the first time since 2004. Due to his absence from his favorite tournament and subsequent absence from the tour, the 14-time Roland Garros winner will drop out of the top 100 after the tournament ends.
On social media, the Mallorcan continued to reflect on his surgery, which took place at the Teknon Clinic in Barcelona, Spain while also thanking the panel of doctors.
"An old injury to the labrum of my left hip was also [fixed] which will surely help the better evolution of the tendon. I want to thank doctors Marc Philippon, Jaume Vilaro and Angel Ruiz-Cotorro for their work," he wrote.
The iconic player added that he expected his recovery process to last five months.
"I will begin progressive functional rehab immediately and normal recovery process they tell me 5 months if all goes well," the Spaniard concluded.