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Rafael Nadal had to undergo a series of infiltrations to be able to play Roland Garros. The enormous efforts made by the Spanish phenomenon paid off, as Rafa was able to lift his 14th title in Paris. Having won the first two majors of 2022, the former world number 1 has stretched over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the all-time Grand Slam rankings.
The 36-year-old from Manacor has announced that he will also take part in Wimbledon, where he hasn't won since 2010. The Iberian, who forfeited last year due to injury, reached the semi-final in London in 2018 and 2019, only giving up on Djokovic and Federer.
Although he does not start with the underdogs, the Majorcan will be a tough nut to crack for everyone if he gets to the second week. The 22-time Grand Slam champion is already training at Church Road and will play a few exhibition games before the tournament begins.
Speaking at Eurosport, Alex Corretja analyzed in detail Nadal's chances on the London grass.
Corretja on Rafa Nadal
"I feel like 2022 for Rafael Nadal, it’s a miracle, since the very beginning of the year," Corretja said.
"After winning the first tournament, then the first Slam, he then got hurt again and he didn’t have that much time to prepare for Roland-Garros. He then ended up winning, and one week later, or two weeks later, I thought, 'Okay, maybe he needs time to rest, he needs time to recover.'
Again, now, he is ready to go and try to play at Wimbledon," Corretja added. "I feel like only Rafa can do that, honestly, because all the ups and downs physically that he had he overcame them. It shows how humble he is, and how much desire he has to keep on going." Corretja added that he doesn't think winning the Calendar Slam will be on Nadal's mind.
"I don’t think he feels like winning the Calendar Slam; it’s not on his mind," Corretja said. "He is just going there to practise from the first day, get ready, and probably have the best chance he can for the first round.
This is his only goal. Then he will go little by little. This is why Rafa deals very well with these kinds of situations because he knows where he is and he just goes for it, just being realistic." As per the seeding announced by the Wimbledon for ATP, the top seed will be the defending champion, Novak Djokovic.
Following him, the winner of both Grand Slams of this year Rafael Nadal is in the second position. The Geneva Open champion and French Open runner-up Casper Ruud, is seeded third. Whereas the Spanish rising star Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime, the 2022 Halle Open quarterfinalist are at 5th and 6th position after the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who currently is playing in the Mallorca Open.
