No promises as Rafa makes injury comeback after a year

Spaniard is taking small steps in tournament play as he builds up for the Australian Open starting January 14 

- Rutvick Mehta

Rafael Nadal is playing competitive tennis again. Happy new year, folks.

One doesn't know, not even Nadal for that matter, for how long. However, as he walked off the Pat Rafter Arena on Sunday after his first match in almost a year partnering Marc Lopez, he lost the doubles first round of the Brisbane International to Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-4 waving to the cheerful crowd wearing a big smile, you could tell the Spaniard enjoyed being back in his familiar territory.

He'll go deeper in it when the 22-time Grand Slam champion turns up for his opening singles match of the ATP 250 event against fellow Slam winner Dominic Thiem (likely on Tuesday). That will be Nadal's first competitive singles contest since his Round 2 loss to Mackenzie McDonald at the 2023 Australian Open. Subsequent surgery in June on his left psoas muscle and a lingering hip problem ensured it would be his last singles match of the year. That saw the player who spent 209 weeks as world No.1 drop out of the top 5, 10, 100 and 500 (he is currently ranked 672).