Rafael Nadal is certain he’ll be returning to competitors after lacking almost all of 2023 with a hip harm that required surgical procedure. And now he says he’ll be revealing his comeback plans quickly.

Nadal wrote Thursday on social media: “I confirmed yesterday I’ll be back” and punctuated that message with a smiling emoji.

“Stay tuned,” he continued within the Instagram put up, which included {a photograph} of him about to hit a backhand. He stated that within the coming days he'll “decide and announce with my team when and where” everybody can count on to see him in motion.

Next season begins in late December, with the yr’s first main event, the Australian Open, scheduled to start main-draw matches on Jan. 14.

“For the world of tennis, no doubt that it’s amazing news that he’ll be back,” Novak Djokovic stated on the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.

Nadal, whose 22 Grand Slam singles titles rank second to Djokovic‘s 24 for probably the most amongst males, has not performed on tour since final January, when he harm his hip flexor throughout a loss to Mackenzie McDonald within the second spherical of the Australian Open.

In May, a little bit greater than every week earlier than the beginning of his beloved French Open, Nadal introduced that he would miss the event he’s received a file 14 occasions and wasn’t precisely certain when he may return to play.

He stated then he hoped to compete in 2024, which he anticipated to be his remaining season.

“You never know how things will turn out,” Nadal stated at a information convention on the time, “but my intention is that next year will be my last year.”

He wound up having arthroscopic surgical procedure in June in Barcelona.

Dating to the top of 2022, the 37-year-old Spanish left-hander has misplaced seven of his previous 9 matches, together with going 1-3 this season.

With Roger Federer, who received 20 majors, having introduced his retirement in 2022, and Nadal lacking a lot of this yr, Djokovic was the one member of the so-called Big Three of males’s tennis who was lively all through 2023 - and the 36-year-old from Serbia was dominant, notably on the Grand Slam tournaments. He received the Australian Open, French Open and U.S. Open and reached the ultimate at Wimbledon.

“I think it would be nice for the sport to have at least one more match between Nadal and me. That’s the biggest rivalry in terms of the amount of matches played that this sport ever had. Hopefully that can happen,” Djokovic stated. “He’s a big warrior. He’s somebody that really never gives up. With all the injuries that he had, keeps going. That’s definitely something that you have to respect and admire about him and his spirit.”

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