Picture Credit: Twitter
Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from the Abu Dhabi tournament. The Spaniard took to Twitter to confirm the news. Notably, Nadal had made a comeback to tennis at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition in the weekend gone by. The world number 6 had faced defeats in both the matches he played against Andy Murray and Denis Shapovalov respectively.
The 35-year-old in his social media announcement added that he will keep his followers informed about his decision to participate in future tournaments.
"Hi all. I wanted to announce that on my return home after playing the Abu Dhabi tournament, I have tested positive for COVID in the PCR test that was performed on me when I arrived in Spain," Nadal wrote on Twitter.
"Both in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi we passed controls every two days and all were negative, the last being on Friday and having the results on Saturday," he added.
"I am having some unpleasant moments but I hope that I will improve little by little. I am now homebound and have reported the result to those who have been in contact with me," he further stated before concluding: "As a consequence of the situation, I have to have total flexibility with my calendar and I will analyze my options depending on my evolution. I will keep you informed of any decisions about my future tournaments! Thank you all in advance for your support and understanding."
Nadal made these announcements through a series of tweets from his verified Twitter account.
Check them out here:
The goal is achieved: Nadal says despite defeat at Mubadala Championship
Earlier the 20-time Grand Slam Champion had preferred to look at the positives after his comeback defeat at the Mubadala Championship. He stated that his goal of making a comeback to the tennis court was achieved.
"Yeah maybe too tough to start after a long time," Nadal joked while speaking of the quality of the opponents at the competition in Abu Dhabi.
"[Feeling] good, the goal is achieved. Be back on court, play two matches," he added despite facing losses in both the fixtures.
Nadal even suggested that he is not retiring anytime soon when he said that he would want to come back to Abu Dhabi at least for the next couple of years.
"I have been here plenty of times so the thing is, if I [am] still playing tennis, I am always super happy to be here playing, so hopefully I can keep coming during the next couple of years," he had stated.