While some take the morning off after dinner on Christmas Eve, the grown-ups train. It is the work that makes the difference between a good player and a supercrack. There are no secrets, only work. Rafa Nadal did not rest on the 25th. There is still time for the Australian Open, which has delayed its start for three weeks, until February 8, but the Balearic did not want to waste time. Before Christmas lunch, he went to his academy in Manacor to continue training.
These Christmases are atypical for him, since in ten seasons he had already spent these days in Abu Dhabi to start a new course in the traditional exhibition that is not being held this year. Players such as Felix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Sonego, which has served to give quality to their practices, and between January 14 and 16 he will travel to Melbourne to face the mandatory two-week quarantine before facing the first big of the year. It remains to be seen if he will participate in the ATP Cup (February 1-5), where Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem have already confirmed their presence.