Rafael Nadal good to go for one event but will miss another important one
By Lee Vowell
Tennis fans, if you are looking forward to watching Rafael Nadal take on Carlos Alcaraz at the Netflix Slam on March 3, you are in luck. Or if you were planning on flying to Las Vegas, Nevada, and watching the event in person, you are good there, too. Even better, if you forked over $150,000 to have a private lesson with Nadal, your money will not be even more wasted than it already was.
I write all that because Nadal will definitely be participating as scheduled at the event. There was some question as to whether the Spanish great would be able to make it. After missing all the rest of 2023 after injuring his hip in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open, Nadal came back at the start of 2024 but injured the same hip after just a few matches at the Brisbane International. He has not played since.
But he has already flown to the United States in anticipation of the Netflix Slam along with playing at the first Masters 1000 of 2024 in Indian Wells. That tournament begins on March 6. We know about Nadal's flight because Novak Djokovic seemingly accidentally booked the same flight and the two all-time greats ran into one another on the plane.
Rafael Nadal will be in Las Vegas but not Miami
Of course, Nadal will get paid a lot of money to both play for Netflix and also any clinics he might choose to participate in. Fans will pay $150,000 to have a one-on-one hit around with him over the weekend.
But he will not be playing at the second Masters 1000 of the year in Miami. The first round of that tournament begins on March 20. To be fair, Nadal has not played at the vent since 2017 so he is simply skipping Miami because of a recent injury.
In a recent interview with El Objetivo, Nadal admitted that he might not be able to play Indian Wells again after this year and his main objective for this year was to be as in good of shape as possible for the clay court season. Nadal said, "I hope to be in Indian Wells, it will possibly be the last time I play it and it is a very special tournament for me."