Rafael Nadal’s comeback surely greatest in tennis

As tennis buffs recover from an awesome two weeks’ display by Rafael Nadal at the French Open, the talk is: has the sport seen its greatest comeback?

It’s not that tennis has not seen some phenomenal comebacks before. There was Andre Agassi, the American idol, who went through a severe crisis in his personal and professional life and saw his ranking plummet to 141, before he came back to add majors to his glittering CV in 1999. However, it took him an entire year on the Tour and five Grand Slams to get back to top form.

No less admirable was the return of Serena Williams, who came back from foot surgery and a pulmonary embolism in 2011. While she had impressive results right away, it took her four Grand Slams to regain her rhythm and return to the top.

Kim Clijsters came back from retirement to immediately win her first Grand Slam back at the 2009 US Open. However, she lost before the finals of the three other events she played that year.

Compare this to Rafa’s record since his comeback after a seven-month break in an innocuous clay event in Chile in February. Nine tournaments, nine finals and seven titles — including a Grand Slam on his favourite surface — it’s simply jaw-dropping stuff.

Just rewind to the scenario at the turn of the year. The promoters of the Mubadala Championships in Abu Dhabi had pitched their tournament as the one which would see the return of the Spanish ace, with the build-up of the exhibition event drawing eyeballs galore from the world media.

Disappointment hence hit hard when Nadal decided to defer his return owing to a “stomach virus,” while his skipping of Australian Open raised serious doubts about his future as a player.

Seven months is a long time to sit out in top-drawer tennis, but Nadal wanted to be absolutely sure about his dodgy knee. He recuperated at his Mallorca home and watched the world go by.

It was an eventful phase in men’s tennis, though: Roger Federer won Wimbledon and briefly recaptured the No. 1 ranking; Andy Murray broke his Grand Slam duck at the US Open and added an Olympic gold, while Novak Djokovic cemented his hold on the No. 1 ranking.

However, men’s tennis still missed Nadal badly. The supreme fitness, those near-impossible retrievals, the spontaneous display of emotions — were all badly missed during his months of absence. What’s more, the four-way rivalry at the top was also not alive.

Having got the claycourt season done and dusted with a flourish, Nadal has now decided to give the next grasscourt event in Halle a skip. It will be worth waiting for a well-rested Nadal to unleash his campaign at the Wimbledon, which starts in two weeks’ time!