21-time Grand Slam champion, Rafael Nadal is all set to make his return from injury at the Madrid Open. Notably, he sustained a rib injury during the final of Indian Wells against Taylor Fritz. Since then, he missed the Miami Open and the start of the clay-court season.

Meanwhile, the whole world is talking about the recent controversy surrounding the ban of Russian and Belarusian players at Wimbledon. Some people are against it and some are supporting this brave decision coming from SW19. Recently, Rafael Nadal weighed in with his own opinion.

Rafael Nadal feels sorry for his Russian colleagues

At the recent press conference at the Madrid Open, a reporter asked Nadal about his views on the current ban of Russian players from Wimbledon.

Nadal said, “I think it’s very unfair of my Russian tennis mates, my colleagues. In that sense, it’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment… I don’t know what to say I’m sorry for them. I wish it was not this way, but at the end of the day we know that this is what we have.”

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The Spaniard continued, “Let’s see what happens in the next weeks, if the players will take some kind of decision in that regard in that sense well, there is one thing that’s negative, you know, there are things that are clear. When the government imposes some restrictions, you just have to follow them.”

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While a certain section of people believe that Wimbledon’s ban is unjustified, there are a few who argues that the decision was inevitable. Nadal too expressed his sympathy for his Russian counter-parts and also urged the irrelevance of sport in a matter as big as the current crisis.

“It’s very unfair thing for them, for sure. But unfortunately, would say that in this moment, you know, being a very complicated situation for those Russian players, you know, there is a lot of things happening, Russia and Ukraine, and at the end of the day, what happens in our games, you know it doesn’t have any importance when we can see so many people dying and suffering and seeing the bad situation they are having in Ukraine, very serious.”

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic also protested the decision of Wimbledon as he didn’t like political interference in the world of sport.

Nadal is ready to start his clay-court campaign

At the Madrid Open, Nadal will play his first match on the third of May. His potential opponent could either be Miomir Kecmanovic or Alexander Bublik. Either way, it will be a tough first match for Rafael Nadal on his return. However, he’s called ‘The King of Clay’ for a reason as he’s arguably the greatest clay-court player ever.

With 13 French Open titles to his name, Rafael Nadal literally has no competition on the red dirt. Although he has faced injuries on his feet and ribs, he’s still formidable on clay. It will be interesting to see how far the Spaniard can go in this tournament. Overall, Rafael Nadal won the Madrid Open five times and he will be looking to capitalize the opportunity this year as well.

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