​Rafael Nadal will officially return to singles tennis at the ATP tournament in Brisbane. The Iberian, a former world leader, will defeat one of his oldest rivals on Monday, January 1, 2024: Dominic Thiem.

Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem at ATP Brisbane

Rafa, who is a wild card and is currently ranked 672 in the world, will have a tough task on his return to court as he faces Dominic Thiem (98 ATP).

At the age of 30, the Austrian is not going through the best period in his career, trying in recent seasons to reach the form that established him (he won the US Open in the 2020 edition).

During that time, Nadal and Thiem met 15 times, the score 9-6 in favor of the Iberian.

Dominic won his last two individual matches, both in 2020 (one of the Austrian’s best seasons on the ATP circuit): at the Australian Open and at the Tournament of Champions.

Rafa’s last win against Thiem was in the 2019 Roland Garros final.

Know

• Nadal played his last official match at the Australian Open earlier this year when he lost to Mackenzie Macdonald in the second round.

• Rafa has since missed the entire season with a hip problem and underwent surgery in June this year.

• Although Novak Djokovic, one of his biggest rivals in his career, has said that Rafa will return to win major titles, the Spaniard believes that he is not ready to win ATP titles at the moment.

The tournament in Brisbane will be held from December 31 to January 7. It is part of the ATP 250 category, has a total prize pool of US$739,945, and there will be 32 players in the main singles at the start, with Kei Nishikori (in 2019) as the defending champion.

Australian Open 2024 will be held from January 14 to 28 in Melbourne.

What you need to know about Rafael Nadal

• At the age of 37, the Iberian won 1,068 career victories and lost 220 times.

• He has 92 ATP titles won over a period of time, and 22 of them are Grand Slam tournaments (two titles behind record holder Novak Djokovic).

• He collected $134,640,719 in tennis prizes alone.