Nadal has his schedule plans ruined ahead of Australian Open

The fact that Spain were knocked out of the United Cup by Great Britain had a collateral effect on Rafael Nadal and his expected schedule.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who signed up for the mixed team competition to train ahead of the Australian Open (January 16-29), has played just one official match in simple before the first big tournament where he will defend his crown, and there are only 15 days left.

The duel against Alex De Minaur is scheduled for Monday at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, the same surface on which he lost to Cameron Norrie in the 2022 farewell.

The maximum points Nadal can earn from his participation in the United Cup is 40, if he wins against Alex De Minaur.

Moreover, Casper Ruud is dangerously close to the overall standings and he would currently be 50 points ahead if he wins Tuesday’s game against Matteo Berrettini.

Several options

Nadal has the remote possibility of requesting an invitation to the Adelaide tournament, which would be complicated because he never plays the week before the big tournaments, or of registering for an exhibition the week before the Open like the Kooyong Classic .

The presence of his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz is confirmed there.