"Here I am with some positive news": Rafael Nadal intends to play Wimbledon after encouraging evaluation period

Rafael Nadal’s continued quest for the calendar-year Grand Slam is on.

Meeting with press in Mallorca Friday, Nadal reiterated the word “positive” when describing his week of training and status of his left foot. And with it, the 22-time major champion expects to head to the United Kingdom after the weekend to get set for Wimbledon.

“I experienced some improvements, different feelings on my foot, honestly. I take that like a positive thing,” Nadal said at the Mallorca Country Club. “My intention is to travel to London next Monday, play two matches there before the tournament starts and just follow my normal schedule to prepare the best way possible [for] Wimbledon. Today, that’s all I can say. I’m positive about that.”

Nadal has not appeared at the All England Club since 2019, when he was defeated by Roger Federer in a four-set semifinal. The 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Spaniard withdrew ahead of last year’s tournament when “listening to his body.”

“I’m happy with the way I was able to practice the week here. I am excited to travel, to try to play Wimbledon after three years,” said Nadal, who trained with Feliciano Lopez Friday.

“I was able to practice the whole week, increasing a little bit the amount of work. So I’m positive about that.”

As for his chronic injury, which saw Nadal play the Roland Garros final with his left foot “asleep”, the 36-year-old spoke about the aftermath of winning his 14th French Open crown and the short window available to be fit for the grass-court major.

“In some way I went through some pain after the final. The next day, I was with you guys, the press, in Paris. It was a tough day in terms of pain. The next day was much worse before traveling to Barcelona. So I experienced a couple of tough days,” he reflected.

“Not much time to rest. But I know that it’s gonna be like this if I wanted to try to play Wimbledon. I didn’t have time to lose. I had to try to do the treatment. If that works, it will be my chance to try to travel to Wimbledon. So that’s what I did and here I am with some positive news.”

Nadal doesn’t believe grass should impact the way his pain is triggered, given the softness of the surface. The left-hander is a two-time former Wimbledon champion, though hasn’t contested a final there since 2011 (l. to Novak Djokovic). Should he proceed as planned, this marks the first time Nadal will arrive at SW19 with the first two majors of the year to his name.