The veteran Spanish star is making his comeback with a wildcard following an injury break of almost a year. The most recent two duels between the players who were still at the top of the world at the time went to Thiem in 2020 at the Australian Open and the ATP Finals, but overall Nadal leads in a direct comparison 9:6.
The most legendary of these were the finals in Paris in 2018 and 2019, which Nadal won. Before their 16th meeting, they already played once morest each other in training in Brisbane, as pictures and videos on Thiem’s Instagram page show. In the run-up to the Australian Open, the 30-year-old from Lower Austria, as the current number 98 in the world, continues to look for a connection to his heyday before a wrist injury in 2021.
“Just being here is a victory for me”
For the 37-year-old Nadal, the 250 hard court event in northeastern Australia is the first tournament since January 18, 2023, when he suffered a hip injury in Melbourne. “Just being here is a victory for me. I feel good and can’t complain. It will be a tough process at the beginning, I haven’t been on the tournament court for a year and have only trained at a very good intensity for a month.” said the winner of 22 majors before the tournament began.
The 92-time tournament winner also stated that he no longer sets long-term goals for himself due to his recent history of suffering. “I want to try to get better and better as the season progresses. I have to accept the adversity and the fact that things won’t be perfect at the beginning. I just have to keep the right attitude and work spirit every day.” As a warm-up, Nadal competed in doubles with Marc Lopez on Sunday, but lost to an Australian duo.
On his first day of the individual tournament he meets the already well-rehearsed Thiem. The 30-year-old also had to go through three sets in the second qualifying round once morest the Italian Giulio Zeppieri. The winner of the duel between the former world number one and the 2020 US Open winner will face the Russian Aslan Karazew or the Australian Jason Kubler in the round of 16.
Sebastian Ofner gets it as ranking 43. in Hong Kong at the start with the American Mackenzie McDonald, once morest the world number 41. he has never played before. The singles game is not yet scheduled for New Year’s Day, but Ofner’s doubles is. The Styrian forms a team with the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan and meets his compatriots Alexander Erler/Lucas Miedler, who are number four.
