Rafael Nadal shares injury recovery update on social media in preparation for clay court season

Rafael Nadal has stepped up his recovery from a lengthy injury and shared footage on social media of himself hitting on a tennis court again. The 22-time Grand Slam champion picked up a hip injury in his defeat to Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in January and was initially expected to be out for six to eight weeks. Ad However, the Spaniard withdrew from Indian Wells and the Miami Open this month because of the issue.

TennisBorg backs 'unbelievable' Djokovic for more success and expects Nadal to continue18 HOURS AGO Nadal has been limited to physio and gym work in recent weeks, but he appears to have made progress in his recovery. In a post on social media last month, Nadal wrote: «Took my time off, started rehab, gym and physiotherapy as instructed by the doctors. Getting ready to come back in the best conditions.

»I am sad that I won't be able to compete at Indian Wells nor Miami. Very sad not to be there. I'll miss all my US fans but I hope to see them later this year during the summer swing." Nadal: What next for 22-time Grand Slam champion? Medvedev 'scared' to play Nadal on clay, says facing Djokovic in Australia is 'tough' 'His backyard' — Ruud makes Nadal on clay v Djokovic on hard court comparison On Saturday, the 36-year-old posted a video on social media of his practice session on clay.

He simply captioned the video with the word «yes». The Spaniard's target for returning to competitive action looks set to be the Monte Carlo Masters — the first major event of the European clay court season which begins on April 9. Nadal has won the Monte Carlo Masters 11 times in his career and will be bidding to make it 23 Grand Slam titles at the French Open which gets underway on May 28.