Rafael Nadal admits he was “destroyed physically” in the lead-up to the Australian Open after a recent battle with COVID-19.
Playing in his first Grand Slam since last year’s Roland-Garros, Nadal showed almost no signs of rust as he cruised to a straight-sets win over American Marcos Giron, 6-1 6-4 6-2.
With Grand Slam number 21 on the Spanish superstar’s mind, his participation at the Australian Open appeared in doubt as recently as last month after testing positive for COVID-19, which he admits left him in an uphill battle to be ready in time.
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“The symptoms haven’t been nice. I spent four days in bed and then three more days destroyed physically,” Nadal told Nine’s Jim Courier after the win.
“After that, I started to feel a little bit better, I had a negative PCR after the ninth or 10th day and then I had one or two practices at home, then I came here.”
Prior to the 35-year-old’s COVID-19 battle, Nadal had previously spent nearly half of 2021 on the sidelines, missing out on both Wimbledon and the US Open due to a foot injury.
He conceded he had “a lot of doubts” on whether he could make it to Australia for the summer of tennis.
“It has been a very challenging [few] months,” he added.
“Not only the last six months have been tough, obviously being out of the competition, but since the last lockdown in 2020.
“Everyone knows that I have an important injury in my foot at the beginning of my career… after those two months being at home, when I came back, it was very challenging.
“It’s honestly been very tough in moments with a lot of doubts, but here I am and I can’t be happier to be back in Australia. It’s fantastic for me.
“When you come back from injuries things are always difficult and you need to go day by day.
“You need to accept the mistakes and you need to forgive yourself when things are not going the proper way.
“At the beginning, things are going to be difficult, you will not have the best feeling sometimes on the court, but staying positive and playing with the right energy… and winning matches helps.”
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