Two and a half months after a fracture to the scaphoid in his left foot separated him from the courts, Rafael Nadal reappeared yesterday in his homeland. The Manacor� tennis player had good feelings on the clay of Santa Pon�a and travels today toward Sweden to participate in the tournament of Bastad. The player continues to accumulate good news, since the past Wednesday they reported that he will be able to participate in the Olympic Games. He says that it is a very important competition, although he also comments that �to win a medal is going to be very difficult�.

�I feel good about myself on the court.� Rafael Nadal showed himself forcefully after finishing his participation in the Tournament of Santa Pon�a. The islander player reappeared after a two and a half months absence, which will oblige him to face the first tournaments without playing his best. �I am not going to be able to play a hundred percent. The doctors have told me that it is better not to force myself in order to avoid a relapse, so in matches I will be careful to step and strike the ball on time. The plan is to force as little as possible. At this point it is worth more to lose a match than to have to stop again.�

The injury has forced Rafael Nadal to give up playing at Roland Garros and at Wimbledon, and it also impeded him from fighting for a position in the Olympic Games. The Spanish Federation offered him the possibility of playing doubles next to Carlos Moy� and the two Majorcans accepted. With respect to his opportunity he explained that �it is going to be very difficult to win a medal. There will be some very good players, many of them doubles specialists, but it is clear that we are not going to resign to anything.�

Moy� and Nadal have only played doubles once together. � It was a tournament last year, but it did not end well. Neither of the two of us could dedicate the necessary energy to doubles play. At the Games, it will be different.�

Rafael Nadal will probably change his side in order to play doubles with Moy�. When he plays with Tommy Robredo he plays on the right, but he believes that it is more logical that Moy� occupy that position. �We still have to talk about it, but surely Carlos will play on the right and I on the opposite. That way the both of us will have our correct hand on the outside.� (Note: I translated the last sentence this way with the knowledge that Moya plays right-handed while Rafa plays left-handed.)

The injury has caused him to twist his plans, but he continues to be ambitious. Finishing the year among the top twenty is going to be difficult although he is trying to finish among the top thirty, even the top twenty-five. He will begin to show his best tennis at the Masters Series of Toronto and Cincinnati.