Since the Australian Open at the start of the year, tennis fans have been waiting for Rafael Nadal to return to the sport. The King of Clay sustained a grave injury, which also forced him to miss the French Open for the first time since 2004. The wait to see him play again is about to come to an end, as Rafa will play next year. His return has been equated to the return of a French soccer legend with a French media outlet using a similar tagline.

Zinedine Zidane is a legend of soccer and was highly sought after. He played great matches for Juventus and Real Madrid and solidified his legacy. However, one of his best tournaments is considered to be the 2006 FIFA World Cup, for which he came out of retirement.

Rafael Nadal’s return given the same hype as Zinedine Zidane’s return

Just a few hours ago, the Spaniard sent the world into a frenzy as he announced that he would be returning to the sport. He is set to play tennis in a professional capacity again before the 2024 Australian Open, showing he is eager to return to his last season. He will play in the Brisbane International, an ATP 250 event, to gain points and climb up the ATP ladder.

Since he is the King in the clay slam, L’Équipe, a French nationwide daily newspaper, announced his return by featuring him on their cover page. They used the tagline, ‘Il Revient’, which translates to ‘He Returns’. The same tagline was used when Zinedine Zidane announced his return to the French International soccer team.

The return of Zizou took the soccer world by storm and gave hope to several French fans as they felt that the cup would be theirs once again. But it was not meant to be as they lost in the final, which also saw Zizou getting a red card in his last match for France.

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Similar to the news of Zidane’s return, Nadal’s return has also created quite the hype, with many legends now excited to see him play.  

Legends react to the news of the return of Rafael Nadal 

When Nadal shared the news of his eventual return, the tennis world was very happy to hear it. Millions of tennis fans shared their excitement, and many tennis legends shared the same level of energy as they would get to witness Rafa on the court again. Martina Navratilova was one of the first to react with two claps and one thumbs-up emoji.

Boris Becker shared the news on his Instagram story, where he added the caption, “Welcome back, Rafa”. To accompany the two stars, Billie Jean King shared a similar message as Becker to show her happiness at his return. The world of sports is extremely happy to see his return. Now, we only have to see how Nadal will perform.

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