Rafael Nadal is worried about his surgically repaired left hip, only three games into his comeback from a year-long injury hiatus and less than a week before the Australian Open.
After failing to convert three match points in the second set, the 22-time major champion needed a medical break in the third set of his Brisbane International quarterfinal defeat to Jordan Thompson on Friday.
In the 10th game of the second set, approximately two hours into the game, he miscued an overhead backhand on his first match point. He then missed successive forehands from 6-4 in the tiebreaker before losing 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-3 against No. 55-ranked Thompson.
Nadal’s recovery from the hip injury and surgery that kept him out of the game for all of 2023 after the last Australian Open will be put to the test when the Australian Open starts on January 14.
“I hope to have the chance to be practicing next week and to play in Melbourne,” he said. “Honestly, I am not 100% sure of anything now.”
He added, “A lot of things can be happening in a body like my body after a year without playing tennis. So hopefully it is just that, just a muscle that is supercharged. If that’s the thing, perfect.”