Rafael Nadal has provided more evidence of his work towards a clay comeback, this time including video from his academy in Mallorca. The world number four got fans hopes up last week as he shared photos on social media from his injury recovery.
Now Nadal has gone a step further with clips of his training on the clay, posted by his academy’s official Twitter and ESPN.
The news comes after his uncle Toni confirmed that the 35-year-old hopes to return to competition at the Madrid Open beginning 1st May, a tournament he has won five times, once on hard courts and four times on clay, his last title there coming in 2017.
Should Nadal be fit in time for Madrid, there would be the possibility of a 59th career meeting with world number one Novak Djokovic.
The duo have not played in the same tournament since Roland Garros last year, when the two faced off in the semi-finals, Djokovic coming out victorious before going on to clinch his second career trophy at the Paris Slam.
Djokovic will himself by going for a fourth career title at the Madrid Open, having won in 2011, 2016 and 2019, all on the clay.
While Djokovic leads the pair’s overall head-to-head 30-28, Nadal leads their clay head-to-head 19-8 and their Madrid rivalry 2-1.
However, Djokovic leads their Masters 1000 level head-to-head 16-13, so whichever way you look at the rivalry results another Madrid meeting would be too close to call.
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