Rafael Nadal will return to competition at the
Brisbane International. In singles he will do it against a qualifier on January 2, but he will return before in doubles, as the Spanish tennis player will participate in the first round along with Marc Lopez, his partner of the Olympic gold medal in 2016.
Lopez, 41, joined Nadal's coaching staff in 2021 and will now partner him in this tournament. The pair will face the Australian combination of Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson in the final scheduled match at the Pat Rafter Arena.
This will be Nadal's first doubles match since playing with Roger Federer in the Laver Cup in 2022.
On the opening day at the Pat Rafter Arena, Australia's Arina Rodionova will play Italy's Martina Trevisan, who was among the top 20 in the world in 2023.
Sloane Stephens, former world No. 3 and 2017 U.S. Open champion, will face Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, an Olympic gold medalist in doubles.
On center court, there will be a duel between two Australian players, Alexei Popyrin and Chris O'Connell, both of whom have reached their highest ranking in their careers.
In addition to Nadal, other notable names such as Andy Murray, Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov, Sebastian Korda and Ben Shelton will also start their campaigns at the Brisbane International.