The King of Clay will play more and more tournaments on his favorite surface in order to alleviate his knee problems.
Rafa is scheduled to play in Acapulco the week of the 25th of February so as to skip the tournament in Dubai. Both are ATP500, the only difference is in the prize money as Dubai usually offer 50% more than Acapulco. View the PDF file for the 2013 ATP Calendar
Toni Nadal, Rafa’s uncle and coach, commented “His training has gone well, physically and mentally he is in good shape,” Toni Nadal said. “We can’t put a fixed date down yet for his return. But all signs are positive that he will return sooner than later.”
Then he added “Just because his first confirmed event is in Acapulco does not mean he is not focusing on returning beforehand,” Nadal said . “He plans to return this year with Australia his priority at this point.”
So Rafa will be back to Acapulco. Last time he played there it was in 2005 when he won that tournament and the Costa Do Sauipe tournament in Brazil.
Good news for tennis, bad news for clay courts specialist.
