Rafa Nadal returns to the track this Friday in Adelaide. The Spaniard will participate, along with the best of the male and female rankings, in a mini exhibition tournament that will begin at 1:00 p.m. Australian time (3:00 a.m. in Spain). A Day at the Drive will reunite Nadal with the world number one, Novak Djokovic, and with the three, Dominic Thiem, in an event that will feature the first rackets of the WTA, Ashleigh Barty, who has not had to be confined to being Australian, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams. Also guests are Jannick Sinner and Irina-Camila Begu.
At the Memorial Drive Tennis Center, and in support of the Australian Tennis Foundation and its work in the most deprived areas of the south of the country, Nadal, who was able to prepare in Manacor and has not played since losing in the semifinals of the ATP Finals against Medvedev, He will face Thiem from 09:00 peninsular time. Before, at 03:00, the matches will begin with the duel between Djokovic and Sinner, which will be followed by those of Serena against Osaka and Venus against Begu. Finally, in the afternoon session, after Rafa's gig, the faces Barty and Halep will be seen. These two matches can be followed on Eurosport.
Adelaide will kick off the Aussie tour amid controversy over which many players regard tennis stars as favoring treatment. Nadal and company have passed the quarantine, which ended on Thursday afternoon, with several members of their teams and with family members, something that those who have been confined in Melbourne have not been able to do. They have also been able to leave their rooms with a terrace for five hours a day to train, a possibility that some have also had in the capital of Victoria, all except the 72 who were in contact with someone positive for COVID on flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles.
Response to criticism
Nadal responded to the criticism from two points of view and called into question Djokovic's attitude, who made his demands public about the situation of his colleagues. “Here each one tries to get the maximum possible performance within our possibilities and help each other, what happens is that some need to make it public and others do it in a more private way without having to publish everything we are doing “he said on ESPN Argentina. “There is talk that those of us in Adelaide are in better condition, but I have not heard anyone from Melbourne say that they have a better room than anyone else. Those who may have complained so much about our conditions in Adelaide have not decided to remain confined without training “, he pointed. The next day, on CNN, the Spaniard offered a more human point of view: “It is normal to complain, but, on the other hand, you see how many are dying in the world, how many are losing their father or mother, without having the opportunity to say goodbye. It is something real, not philosophical, that is real life and that is what is happening in my country where people close to me are suffering this situation. “This Friday he will go from the computer screen to a tennis court, in a simulation of what will be the competition, what for him it will really start on February 2 in Melbourne as Spain's leader in the ATP Cup.