Rafael Nadal retired from tennis last year with the two-time Wimbledon champion playing his last match at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.
But fans who might have hoped that the player could make a return to the sport, will be disappointed as Rafael will now be in recovery after undergoing surgery on his hand. The star has been suffering from severe osteoarthritis of the trapeziometacarpal joint on his right hand. The trapeziometacarpal joint is found at the base of the thumb, a part of the star's hand that would have taken the hardest impacts thanks to his signature topspin.
The father-of-two underwent an anthroplasty, which is aimed at relieving pain and restoring the joint's movement.
Rafael confirmed the surgery on his social media accounts, joking on Friday: "Looks like I won't be able to play the @AustralianOpen 2026. I had to undergo hand surgery because of an issue I'd been dealing with for a long time, but I hope to be fine soon."
Osteoarthritis is a condition that causes joints to become stiff and painful, and the NHS reports that the condition is the "most common type of arthritis in the UK". Alongside joint pain and stiffness, common symptoms are swelling, tenderness and a cracking or grating sound when moving affected joints.
There is no definitive cause for the condition, but one of the common risk factors is the overuse of a joint when it hasn't healed after an injury, something that the tennis star may have faced on several occasions during his tennis career.
Rafael's former injuries
Back in 2022, Rafael had to pull out of Wimbledon following an abdominal tear. Concerns were raised during his quarter-final match against Taylor Fritz, in which he required a medical timeout to take anti-inflammatories.
Speaking in a press conference the day after the match, he explained: "As you can imagine, I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament. As everybody saw yesterday, I have been suffering with pain in my abdomen. It wasn't okay then, and now it's confirmed. I have a tear in the abdominal muscle. The communication is too late.
"I was thinking the whole day about the decision to make, but I think it doesn't make sense [to continue]. Very tough circumstances; it's obvious that if I keep going, the injury will worsen. I'm very sad to say that. I made my decision because I believe that I cannot win two matches under these circumstances.
"I can't serve at the right speed, I can't do normal movements, I can't imagine myself winning two matches like this, and for respect for myself in a way, I don't want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level I need to play at to achieve my goal."
The tennis star was also diagnosed with Mueller-Weiss Syndrome at the age of 19. The degenerative foot condition can lead to bone collapse and deformities in the affected areas. Although the condition didn't always hamper Rafael, with the tennis ace's medical team focusing on "lessen[ing] the pain" of the illness during his career.
However, a flare-up in 2021 led to him withdrawing from the US Open, while the following year he required painkilling injections ahead of the French Open and speculated about retiring from the sport.