‘It’s going to be pretty crazy’ – Taylor Fritz ready for threat of drawing unseeded Rafael Nadal

World No. 10 Taylor Fritz admitted it is “pretty crazy” that 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal will return from injury as an unseeded player in 2024.

The 37-year-old Spaniard has been away since early 2023 after struggling with a hip injury, and he underwent surgery in an attempt to make a comeback.

He has already confirmed that for the rest of his career he will be playing an abridged season in order to maintain his fitness as best he can.

Nadal dropped to No. 663 in the rankings this year after missing almost all of the 2023 season and will therefore be outside the seeds on his return.

However, should he return relatively close to the peak of his performances of recent years, then he will doubtless trouble even the very best of the current crop of players.

“I mean, I expected that, it’s Rafa,” Fritz said.

“I don’t think that he was ever going to just retire and not give it another go, so I definitely, after the amount of time he’s had off, I expected him to come back to start the year. So I think that it’s good news for tennis as a whole.

“I think that maybe it’s going to be tough. Maybe he might be a little bit rusty. I think it’s going to be pretty crazy having him in draws where he’s going to be unseeded. So anybody can play Rafa in the first round, so it’s going to be pretty crazy.

“He’s Rafa, so I think even if he’s going to be maybe a little rusty coming back or it takes some time, he’s still going to be playing really well and he’s still going to be tough for a lot of guys to play early and draws as well just because of him being unseeded.”

The Brisbane International starts on December 31 and runs until January 7, 2024.

It is one of the main warm-up events before the first major of the year in Melbourne, when the Australian Open is staged from January 14-28, 2024.