After having surgery on a hip muscle that will keep him out of action for around five months, Rafael Nadal's injury-plagued season is all but done, according to his agent, who spoke on Saturday.
The 14-time French Open winner, who has a men's joint-record 22 major titles, has been out since January after suffering a hip flexor injury during a second-round Australian Open loss to Mackenzie McDonald.
“Rafa will begin his progressive functional rehabilitation in a few hours,” Nadal’s representative, Benito Perez-Barbadillo, said in a statement.
“The normal recovery process is estimated at five months, always taking into account respecting the biological times of said structure.”
Instead of attending the French Open, where his presence has been much missed by fans at Roland Garros this year, Nadal celebrated his 37th birthday on Saturday in a hospital.
In addition, Nadal has stated that 2024 is probably going to be his final season as a professional tennis player. However, on the sidelines of the Grand Slam, his physician, Angel Ruiz-Cotorro, told Reuters that he anticipated the former world number one to return.
“I expect Rafa will recover perfectly in the time necessary or maybe even less,” Ruiz-Cotorro said. “It will depend on the evolution. There are different processes in this injury.
“First of all, it’s a little rest but we will begin some rehabilitation and after six weeks we will see what happens … and then obviously he’ll start playing tennis very slowly.”
After getting hurt, Nadal was initially predicted to be sidelined for eight weeks, but the injury ultimately destroyed his season.
Nadal is currently ranked 15th after dropping out of the top 10 in the global rankings for the first time since 2005 in March.
