ATP PREVIEW 2024 Brisbane International as Spanish king Rafael NADAL returns alongside Holger RUNE, Grigor DIMITROV and Ben SHELTON

Taking place between 31 December 2023 – 7 January 2024, the Brisbane International returns to kick off the new season with an ATP 250 and WTA 500 and with the draw now confirmed on the ATP side, our preview takes a closer look at the field ahead of the action kicking off.

In the ATP 250, it is a fairly standard field led by the likes of Holger Rune and Ben Shelton, but there is the return of the Spanish kingpin, Rafael Nadal. After getting injured at the 2023 Australian Open, the 22-time Grand Slam champion has been attempting to have one last swansong and despite being coy on his chances, many believe he won’t be leaving any stone unturned in his efforts.

A lot of spotlight will be on the great Spaniard in the next week in a period in which Novak Djokovic plays United Cup alongside Iga Swiatek for different countries. Still despite him being in his twilight, he attracts big attention and this could also help a good field over the next week in Brisbane.

Led by multiple top names who will be looking for that scalp, Holger Rune will lead as top seed albeit without Severin Luthi or Boris Becker. Magnus Carlsen instead will take the Dane and the latter two despite taking his recent training block will be there at the Australian Open.

But after recent green shoots of form with Becker in his corner, Rune will hope to start his 2024 with Becker or not on top form. Grigor Dimitrov is one of the only players who have been in action recently as a top seed.

He was part of the recent World Tennis League losing in the final to Daniil Medvedev’s Hawks, but in a cohesive team unit with Aryna Sabalenka, Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas, he shone and showed last season why he is still very much a force to be reckoned with reaching the Paris final. But facing him is Andy Murray who will be reunited in a tournament with his Big Four rival, Rafael Nadal. Recently he said that he will pack it in when he is no longer competing and will hope to put in a good display to dispel any doubters when it comes to his credentials to still mix it.

As did Ben Shelton as he returns to the country where it all started with a run to last year’s Australian Open Quarter-Final. He reached the US Open semi-finals and got into the top 15 in only his first full year on the tour as well as sealing a maiden ATP title. The American is firmly on the up and will be one to watch this week. Other protagonists include Ugo Humbert and Sebastian Korda. With the return of this tournament, the 2019 champion was Kei Nishikori. But he couldn’t return due to ongoing injury issues. Sebastian Baez, Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Aslan Karatsev are the other top seeds outside of Rune, Dimitrov, Shelton, Humbert and Korda.

Rafael Nadal will also play doubles with his Rio 2016 gold medal partner in Marc Lopez. His current coach who last played with Carlos Alcaraz back at the 2022 Madrid Masters will add extra intrigue and the duo will play before the new year is out on December 31. Either due to extra match practice or the hope for the former that he will play with Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 Olympic Games.