Rafael Nadal admitted on Wednesday he faces a “difficult” and “painful” recovery from the foot injury that forced the 20-time Grand Slam champion to miss Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.
Nadal ended his season in August due to injury and has said his foot is still a “little sore” in a presentation of a documentary about his tennis academy.
The 35-year-old said he is “looking forward to improving and facing a process that will be difficult in some ways and painful in others but that I have to go through to fight for what I want again.”
Nadal published a photo of himself on Instagram on Saturday holding crutches with his left foot bandaged.