Rafael Nadal has officially made his return to the match court for the first time since his retirement.
Nadal retired from tennis in 2024 at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, bringing an end to his 23-year playing career.
The now 40-year-old had not returned to court since then, but Nadal had hinted that he could play some exhibition events in the future.
This came to fruition for the 10th anniversary of his academy, where Nadal led a team against his former rival Andy Murray in an event named the Rafa Nadal Academy Slam, but he has now admitted it was not easy for him to come back.
Rafael Nadal admits the challenges he has faced since playing tennis again
Nadal spoke in a press conference ahead of the exhibition, as he revealed that he had only practiced a minimal number of times before returning to the match court, which he admitted was a challenge in itself.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion explained that he was not quite at the same fitness level as before he retired, which Nadal found ‘the toughest’ part about his comeback.
“Well, I started practicing like three weeks ago,” said Nadal. “I practiced seven times before today or I don’t know six, seven, five, I don’t know exactly the number. But the process was, I mean when you didn’t practice for almost two years, it’s not that beautiful to be honest to come back on court.
“Because sometimes you see that ball, I’m going to take that ball there and then you arrive like one second later. That’s the toughest part. In general, it was a good experience to have the racket on my hands again. Good feeling hitting the balls and it was great.”
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Full results from the Rafael Nadal vs Andy Murray exhibition
Nadal led a team of himself, David Ferrer, Carlos Moya and Richard Gasquet, while Murray captained a lineup of Marat Safin, Dominic Thiem and Fabio Fognini.
All matches were doubles and played a 10-point tie-break format, other than the deciding match that was played as a traditional seven-point tie-break, and it was Nadal’s team who came out on top by winning 4-3 overall.
With things level at 3-3 going into the final match, Nadal and his former coach Moya were able to beat Murray and Fognini 7-5.
- [Nadal’s team] Moya/Gasquet beat [Murray’s team] Safin/Fognini 10-9
- [Murray’s team] Murray/Thiem d. [Nadal’s team] Nadal/Ferrer 10-9
- [Murray’s team] Fognini/Thiem d. [Nadal’s team] Gasquet/Ferrer 10-8
- [Nadal’s team] Nadal/Gasquet d. [Murray’s team] Murray/Safin 10-0
- [Nadal’s team] Moya/Ferrer d. [Murray’s team] Thiem/Safin 10-8
- [Murray’s team] Murray/Fognini d. [Nadal’s team] Nadal/Moya 10-7
- [Nadal’s team] Nadal/Moya d. [Murray’s team] Murray/Fognini 7-5
While Nadal admitted the challenges of coming back to tennis, he was able to win two of his four matches, including one alongside Gasquet where they did not lose a single point.
Nadal has previously hinted at playing exhibitions against Roger Federer in the future, and this is only likely to increase speculation about this happening.
