Tiger Woods issues plea to tennis fans ahead of Rafael Nadal farewell tour
Tiger Woods is urging tennis fans to enjoy Rafael Nadal while they can as the Spaniard prepares to make one last comeback. The 22-time Grand Slam champion has not played since January when he picked up a season-ending injury in Australia. Nadal later admitted that 2024 could be his last year on the tour and any return may end up being a farewell lap of honour.
After having surgery in June, the 37-year-old was reluctant to commit to making a comeback. But Nadal recently announced that he would be able to get back to professional competition next year. It remains to be seen when and where he plays but there are reports that the former world No 1 will start the season with a warm-up event in Australia.
As Nadal gears up for his return, his good friend Tiger Woods has issued a plea for fans to enjoy his tennis before it’s too late. “Well, I think what Rafa, what he’s done is extraordinary. I mean, he won the Australian Open on a broken foot. The guy is beyond tough and beyond competitive,” the golfing icon said, referencing Nadal’s heroic victory from 2022.
Although Woods himself knows the perils of trying to recover from a significant injury, the 47-year-old admitted that he didn’t want to see Nadal hang up his racket. He continued: “He knows that Father Time is here. Every athlete faces it. Although in some sports it happens faster than others, and unfortunately, just like every sport, you get aged out.
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“I don’t want to see him go. I never wanted to see Fed [Roger Federer] go, but that’s what happened. We should all enjoy watching him compete and watching him play and what he’s meant to the game, what he’s meant to all of us, just to see the passion of how he plays and why he plays.”
Woods and Nadal are good friends and the Spaniard previously confessed that the 15-time major winner was his idol after Woods came to watch him win the 2019 US Open. At the time, Nadal said: “For me, it’s a huge honour playing in front of all of you of course, but playing in front of Tiger for me is a very special thing. I never had a big idol but if I had to say one idol it’s him. I try to follow him every single shot that he hits through the whole year.”
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And the 47-year-old will surely be watching when Nadal returns to the match court in 2024. Earlier this month, the 92-time title winner appeared at the Clinica del Tenis and said: “I sincerely believe that I will return to play.
“I can’t say at what level I’ll be able to return, but I’ve never lost the desire to play and now it seems that things are going in the right direction. I’m not ready to say whether it will be in one place or another, but I’m happy with how things are going.”
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