Tennis News: Nadal out of Aussie Open?, Kyrgios in?, and Federer is rich

Just when we thought Rafael Nadal might be ready to return, he may have put a pause on the optimism. We already know that 2024 will be Nadal’s last year because that is what he told us. The 22-time Grand Slam champion has struggled with injuries over the years and he isn’t getting any younger (he’s not “old,” of course, in human years but in tennis years he is ancient) and he has a right to call his shot as far as when he calls it a career playing tennis.

But for a split moment this week, we had hoped – confirmed hopes, we thought – that Rafael Nadal would return for the 2024 Australian Open in late January. These new hopes stemmed from Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley saying, “In talking to him over the last few days, he confirmed he will be back (for the Australian Open).” But either Tiley can’t hear well or was, well…lying, Nadal isn’t quite ready to say he will return for the Aussie Open.

Nadal responded with a tweet saying basically, “Thanks, but press pause, please.” He said he is still working his way back and isn’t ready to commit. So there’s a chance that Nadal will return for the first Grand Slam of 2024, but there is no guarantee he will (hence the wink emoji in his tweet below).

Rafael Nadal might not return for the Australian Open but Nick Kyrgios seems set to

One player likely to return for the Australian Open, though, is Aussie Nick Kyrgios. According to Wide World of Sports (and, again…Tiley), Kyrgios has made it “clear” that he will come back for the major that his home country hosts. Kyrgios hasn’t played in what seems like 150 years, but he has the physical skills to beat anybody anywhere. That is if he is motivated to do so, of course.

According to what Tiley told Wide World of Sports, “I personally believe in the communication that (Kyrgios is) motivated to come back and play in January.” Of course, that is basically what Tiley said about Nadal, too. So maybe let’s play the wait-and-see game whether Kyrgios comes back in January or not.

Roger Federer is still very rich

Forbes released its list of 10 highest-paid athletes for the last year and Roger Federer made the cut. Mind you, Federer hasn’t played competitive tennis in a while so his making the Forbes list is a bit surprising. Turns out, Federer always made a lot of money off the court, too.

In fact, of the top-ten athletes on the list, Federer earned more away from the game he plays or played than any other athlete. That’s pretty impressive and shows once again how beloved Federer always has been. Sponsors want to use him to sell products because fans love him. Nothing wrong with that.