“Rafa is fine, the treatment is working, he will be one of the favourites” – Uncle Toni on Nadal ahead of Wimbledon

Nadal, who practiced at Wimbledon on Monday, plays Stan Wawrinka at an exhibition event in London on Wednesday

Spain’s Rafael Nadal during a practice session at Wimbledon in 2019 Image Credit: AI / Reuters / Panoramic

June 21, 2022

If his former coach and uncle Toni Nadal is anything to go by, Rafael Nadal will compete at Wimbledon next week and will be one of the favourites for the men’s singles title, though the 61-year-old says that Novak Djokovic will be the one to beat.

Ever since he won Roland-Garros for the 14th time in early June and then revealed the extent of his foot injury and the treatment he underwent to play there, there have been several question marks about Nadal’s participation at the grass court Major.

On Friday, the 22-time Grand Slam champion said he planned to travel to London with the intention of playing at Wimbledon and that his foot seemed to be responding well enough to treatment to get on to the start line at SW19.

Rafa “quite happy”

Now, in an interview to “El Programa de Ortega” from Radio Marca in Mallorca, Uncle Toni says that the Nadal camp is feeling confident that things will go well and that the Spaniard will be one of the favourties for the title.

“Rafa is fine, the treatment is working. Rafa is quite happy and we are confident in the fact that things go well. I think he will be one of the favourites, even if the main favourite is still Djokovic, and you have to keep an eye on Berrettini and Hurkacz. If Rafa is lucky enough to pass the first week, he’ll be competitive in the second,” the 61-year-old said.

Toni Nadal is currently in Mallorca for the ATP 250 grass court event there, which has attracted the likes of world No 1 Daniil Medvedev, world No 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, Canadian Denis Shapovalov and Australian Nick Kyrgios. But Rafa Nadal is not in the draw, given his preference to not play tournaments in the week prior to a Grand Slam.

“The week before a Slam, Rafa prefers to rest, practice quietly and doesn’t compete.” Toni Nadal said.

Rafael Nadal hits the practice courts at Wimbledon

Meanwhile, Nadal hit the practice courts in London on Monday at the All England Club. The official social media handle of Wimbledon posted a video of his practice session.

🌱 R A F A 🌱#Wimbledon | @RafaelNadal pic.twitter.com/fez75xy9ni
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 20, 2022

Nadal is scheduled to play an exhibition event in London later this week, which also has Djokovic in the field. The Spaniard will start the tournament on Wednesday against three-time Major winner Stan Wawrinka.

Matches at the Hurlingham (subject to change)

Wednesday

Nadal vs Wawrinka
Djokovic vs Auger-Aliassime

Friday

Nadal vs Auger-Aliassime
Djokovic vs TBC
— James Gray (@jamesgraysport) June 20, 2022