AAMI Classic in the hunt to lure Rafael Nadal – Tennis News
Former world number one, Rafael Nadal, is recovering from the knee injury that hurt the cause of the Spanish superhero in the Wimbledon Championships during the month of June. Czech underdog, Lukas Rosol, thumped the fourth ranked
Spaniard to a second round upset at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and it has been since that day, the Spanish star hasn’t returned to play the professional tournament. The injury was always there but the reigning French Open Champion managed to carry the
hurtful knee and finally it burnt out.
Now, the obvious plans of Nadal are to make a return to the professional tennis circuit at the Australian Open in January. However, the officials of AAMI Classic are trying their level best to lure the 26-year-old Spaniard to reschedule
his trip to Kooyong before landing at Melbourne for the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. They want him to warm up for the Australian Open at Kooyong which is going to be a very tough possibility considering the rehabilitation process of Nadal’s knee that
might take a bit long; exceeding the starting date of AAMI Classic.
The Tournament Director of AAMI Classic, Colin Stubs stated in a press conference, “We're in touch with the top four and it might surprise you to know that Nadal is a possibility for us. It just depends on when he actually gets
back on the circuit. That would be something special for us because he's never played here. We're hoping to get a top-four player, (but) it's not easy these days because we've got a lot of competition from the Middle East. The top four players I've found over
the last couple of years have been very reluctant to make their plans too early.”
Nadal who has missed an opportunity to be a flag bearer for his country at the London Olympics due to knee injury is unlikely to risk it for something meagre like AAMI Classic but nothing is confirm as to date. He hasn’t taken
part in the US Open Championships and fell to the fourth spot in the world rankings. Stubs has managed to add some big names like the ninth ranked Serb star, Janko Tipsarevic, Argentine Juan Monaco and the number one Canadian, Milos Raonic, who is ranked 13th
in the world.
Former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Martin Del Potro will accompany the likes of Marcos Baghdatis and Kei Nishikori to the tournament as well.
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