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Andrey Rublev underlines Rafael Nadal has a history of making successful post-injury comeback and admits he won't be surprised at all if the Spaniard again wins a Grand Slam in his return. Nadal, 37, is returning at the start of the 2024 season after not playing since the 2023 Australian Open due to hip surgery.
After basically missing the entire second half of 2021, Nadal wasn't really given much of a chance to do well but he miraculously won the Australian Open and French Open in the first half of 2022. Ahead of his latest comeback, Nadal is again doubted as many believe this latest situation may be too to overcome for the 22-time Slam champion.
“We don’t know yet (where his level will be at), but how many times people would say, not just about Rafa, about all those three players, every time they were injured or down and losing matches everybody was saying, ‘Now the time of Roger or time of Rafa or time of Novak, is coming to an end’ and they always proved them wrong.
So I will not be surprised if he will prove it again and wins more slams," Rublev said.
Rublev cracked a joke when asked about Nadal's comeback
Last week in London, Rublev competed at the latest UTS event. There, Rublev was asked about Nadal confirming his comeback.
Rublev, who has one win and two losses against Nadal, joked that he felt "more freedom" while the Spaniard was sidelined. "I'm happy for him that finally he's back. But obviously as a competitor, I feel more freedom when he was not there.
For tennis, it's great that he's back. He will bring back a lot of spectators, a lot of followers, especially, again back for the tie between him and Novak (Djokovic) will bring a lot of attention again to tennis. So, it's amazing that he's back," Rublev said of Nadal returning last week.