Barcelona – Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal's season is over after arthroscopic hip surgery on Friday. After the procedure, the holder of a record 22 Grand Slam titles will have a roughly five-month recovery. His spokesman Beníto Pérez-Barbadillo announced it today. Nadal last played at the Australian Open in January.
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The owner of a record 14 Roland Garros clay trophies, who celebrates his 37th birthday today, injured his left hip flexor in the second round loss at the Melbourne Grand Slam. Since then, he has been treated conservatively and postponed his return to the courts.
“The surgery went well, it consisted of cleaning the damaged parts of the tendon and strengthening them,” Pérez-Barbadillo said of the details of Friday's operation in Barcelona. “Rafa will begin progressive functional rehabilitation within hours and the normal recovery process is estimated to take five months,” he added.
According to the new treatment schedule, he could return to tennis from November, theoretically he could still do so at the end of the season to get on the courts. But it is expected that he will give priority to preparing for next year. Nadal has already announced that the 2024 season will probably be his last.
