Nadal: “Paris? I think I'm on time"

In the morning, the Caja Mágica was in an uproar when he burst onto court 7 to train and received a noisy applause from all those who tried to find a space between the seats or discover a crack through which they could photograph him;

and in the afternoon he did the same at the Santiago Bernabéu, with Real Madrid standing – the 62,000 spectators who celebrated the white wing – to acclaim an illustrious fan of the club, the very tennis reincarnation of the team.

It is already known: neither Real Madrid nor Rafael Nadal admit surrender.

The champion of 21 majors, today the most successful in the history of his sport, set foot on the Chamartín lawn and executed the honorary kick-off as part of the recognition that the entity wanted to give him this Saturday for the achievement of January in Melbourne, where he managed to distance himself from Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Afterwards, Nadal, dressed in a suit, went up to the box, celebrated his team's goals – together with the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and close to Carlos Alcaraz from Murcia, also a Real Madrid player and debutant at the stadium – and in the intermission he attended the Movistar camera.

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“Glad to be here.

He hadn't been able to come for a long time.

Very grateful to the

and the club for this tribute”, commented the man from Manacor, who referred to the meteoric progression of his heir – “it is an impressive replacement” – and addressed how his recovery is going.

He has not competed since he fell in the Indian Wells Masters 1000 final on March 20 due to a cracked rib that occurred the day before against Alcaraz.

Since then, rest and a progressive reincorporation that is going well.

Yes, caution.

"I come here with great enthusiasm, but very fair, really," said the number four in the world, who next week will participate for the 19th consecutive time in the tournament in the capital, whose poster also includes Alcaraz and Djokovic.

“I have trained very little, because the rib is very disabling and also very painful;

I had two very bad weeks and afterwards it has been very, very disabling.

I haven't been able to do practically anything, but it's here, at home, in Madrid...”, continued the 35-year-old Spaniard.

The debut, for Wednesday

When he suffered the physical mishap in California, the tennis player's personal doctor, Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro, predicted four to six weeks of recovery and the deadlines are being met.

Nadal wins filming these days in Madrid and, if everything continues in order, he would then move to Rome (from May 8 to 15) to polish himself at the Foro Italico and thus try to disembark in tone at Roland Garros (from May 22 to 5th June).

"I have three weeks," he recalled.

“So I trust that the daily training will help me to get ready.

Here [in Madrid, at an altitude of 657 meters, a circumstance that complicates control of the ball] the demand is maximum, but what can be done is going to be done, ”he continued.

“The most important thing is to be healthy, but I think that going to Paris I'm on time.

Three weeks are enough to get competitive”, concluded the tennis player, entertained and chanted by the Bernabéu public shouting “Raaaaa-faaaaa!

Raaaaa-faaaaa!

Raaaaa-faaaaa!”

Even Jorge Valdano was astonished: "Rarely has such unanimity been seen."

Nadal will debut in the Caja Mágica on Wednesday, a day session, one day after Alcaraz (night) and Djokovic (day), who are in the same part of the draw.

He and the young man from El Palmar (18 years old, recent winner of the Godó) could meet in a hypothetical quarter-final.

“The truth is that it would be very good to be able to measure myself against Rafa again in Madrid.

Last year [6-1 and 6-2] he hit me hard.

This is a Masters 1,000 to which the best players in the world come;

I hope I can measure myself against him…”, Alcaraz said before the Madrid-Espanyol match began, on Movistar.

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