Nadal wins 89th career title on return to action in Melbourne

Rafael Nadal – who missed the last third of the 2021 season due to a foot injury – has won the title at the Melbourne Summer Series, beating the USA’s Maxime Cressy 7-6(6), 6-3.

It was the Spaniard’s return to competitive action following his appearance at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in December, after which he contracted Covid-19.

And he admitted it was something of a relief to win a trophy so soon after his comeback.

“Tto win a title is always special, and at the same time, after all the things that we went through, I had tremendous support from my team without a doubt, from my family, and yeah, of course there have been still doubts but even more doubts during a lot of months if I will be able to be back,” he said in his press conference.

“Yeah, I think they have been there always. I think I tried hard, honestly. There have been some very challenging moments, and I have been working very hard even in the very tough moments. I never say, and I will never say I deserve this, because I think a lot of people deserve, but I really worked hard, so I am quite satisfied the way that I approached all these very challenging months in terms of attitude, in terms of positive spirit and in terms of passion to try to be back.

“This title helps [me] to keep going, and it’s of course just the beginning. I have a lot of things to keep improving, but I really want to do it, and I’m going to try hard.”

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