On his website, Rafael Nadal says he’s now set to resume training on the tennis courts. The World No. 1 has been inactive since injuring a thigh muscle early in a shocking loss to David Ferrer at the Australian Open quarterfinals last month.
Nadal, who was in Barcelona with girlfriend Francisca “Xisca” Perello for promotion of the April event, opened up about his Australian Open setback and a missed chance at history.
“I was crying in the locker room. I [hated that I had] to go out of the tournament,” Rafa said Tuesday. “Last year, I had to do it and it was something I didn’t want to repeat. But from the third game I knew I didn’t have a chance to win. David was playing fantastic and I wasn’t able to run enough to rise to the level to beat him.”
But Nadal was quick to say that he was ready to return to tennis.
“I feel quite good, I am going home today (Tuesday) to Manacor to begin training on the courts,” Nadal said. “I am going to start training slowly, following a plan, so that there are no setbacks.”
A day after winning the Lareaus Award, Nadal said he was looking forward to returning to the Barcelona event which he sadly missed last year because of knee problems. Also in the Barcelona field will be Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo. Tickets for the April 18th tournament go on sale on February 28.
Nadal is scheduled to play in Spain’s Davis Cup match at Belgium in three weeks.
Here’s a video report on Nadal in Barcelona (translations welcome!):
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