Watch: Rafael Nadal practices for the first time since Australian Open injury, chooses to train on clay despite upcoming Indian Wells Masters
Rafael Nadal is back in training, and he was spotted on the clay-courts at his tennis academy in Manacor on Monday. The Spanish tennis great is approaching the latter stages of his initially estimated recovery period of six to eight weeks from a "grade 2 lesion in the Iliacus Psoas of his left leg."
Nadal limped to the finish of his second-round match against Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in January. He was visibly suffering from the injury for a majority of the match.
The 22-time Slam champion has been spotted around Mallorca during his forced time off from the tour, but this latest glimpse would thrill his fans. Nadal chose to practice on clay just days ahead of the Indian Wells Masters, hinting that he is unlikely to participate in the hardcourt Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami.
You can watch a short clip of the Spaniard's return to practice here:
Rafa hitting on clay. 👀
(IG: anna_d_singer) https://t.co/2gJ9Bu57R4
In late January, Nadal revealed that his recovery and treatment were going in the right direction and that doctors were set to perform further tests in three weeks. It seems that the results of those tests were positive, allowing the 14-time French Open champion to at least begin some light hitting.
Nadal is yet to officially withdraw from the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open. If he does indeed go directly to clay, he would be expected to return at the Monte Carlo Masters which begins on April 9. That would give him five more weeks to be match fit.
Rafael Nadal drops to lowest spot in rankings since 2017, nears end of his Top-10 record
Rafael Nadal fell to No. 8 in the ATP rankings on Monday, his lowest ranking since January 2017. The Spanish legend will drop a further 500 points this week as he won't be able to defend his Mexican Open title in Acapulco.
Meanwhile, back-to-back titles for Daniil Medvedev mean that he has overtaken Nadal in the rankings already.
With his Indian Wells participation in doubt, Nadal is staring at a loss of another 600 points earned as last year's finalist, thus putting his top-10 streak at serious risk. The 36-year-old is currently in his record 910th consecutive week as a top-10-ranked player, never having left the top-10 since first entering it in April 2005.
While Nadal already holds the ATP record, he seems likely to miss out on the chance to break Martina Navratilova's all-time record of 1000 consecutive weeks inside the top-10.