Rafael Nadal's comeback will have "date circled around the French Open", says Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick commented that Rafael Nadal's comeback will have the 2024 French Open as its main objective.

The 14-time Roland Garros champion recently announced his return for the 2024 season and has already confirmed his presence at the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal aims to conclude his career in competitive form and mentioned that he will carefully manage his schedule to participate in his favorite tournaments.

Nadal will announce the precise date of his return in the coming days after recovering from a hip injury that required arthroscopic surgery, keeping him out of the ATP Tour for almost the entire 2023.

Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick recently expressed his excitement about Nadal's return on Tennis Channel, appreciating that the Spanish player can finish his career on the court, delivering a final spectacle to his fans after an impressive journey with 22 Grand Slam titles.

“That’s huge. The best thing that we can wish for as fellow players and analysts is someone finish on their own terms; not be forced out of the sport that they brought so much joy to, based on an injury or based on not being able to get back from an injury,”

“I will say, I don’t know whether or not he’s gonna play Australia, (but) if he does decide to play the Australian Open, I would fully expect him to play either a 250 or something to get the matches in before that Grand Slam,” the 2003 US Open champion said.

“I don’t think that he will play the Australian [Open] if he can’t get some reps in, at least at a two-out-of-three sets level before entering the mess of the three-out-of-five,” he added.

“Every decision he makes is going to be made with the date circled for the French Open. That’s the one that’s gonna dictate every decision he makes. ‘Am I healthy enough? Is this gonna be beneficial for my one last run at Roland Garros?,’” Roddick concluded.