On January 2, Beijing time, the ATP250 Melbourne station signing form was released. As an important warm-up race before the Australian Open, this tournament attracted famous players such as Nadal, Murray and Dimitrov. Among them, Nadal will play as the top seed, ushering in his first official game after his comeback.
In singles matches, Nadal will play as the top seed. In the first round, Nadal enjoys a bye, and in the second round his opponent is the winner between Geelong and a qualifier, and if he can reach the quarterfinals, Nadal may face the 7th seed Kopfer, and moving on in the semifinals, his opponent may be the 4th seed Goffin, and in the final Nadal may face the likes of Dimitrov, Opelka or Murray.
Murray, who played with a wild card, is played against Argentine Bagnis in the first round, and if he can win and advance, Murray will face the challenge of No. 3 seed Dimitrov in the second round. Moving on, the opponent could be No. 8 seed Macdonald, and the semi-finals will be against Opelka or Pelle.
In order to be able to find the status of the game as soon as possible, Nadal not only participated in singles matches, but also partnered compatriot Munnar to play in the men's doubles. In the first round of doubles Nadal and Munnar were played against Poperin and Polmans on home. The two are played against No. 4 seed Grubev/Skugao in the second round, and moving on could face a combination of Dimitrov and Goffin.
The tournament was Nadal's first official appearance after five months, and his last appearance on the Tour was in Washington, D.C. in early August. However, Nadal's comeback in Washington did not work well, and he has since announced that he will say goodbye to the entire 2021 season and concentrate on recovering from his foot injury. I hope that this time Nadal's comeback road can be smooth and can create good results in the next Australian season.