He’s Ba-ack!

Last Tuesday, Rafael Nadal got back on the practice court for the first time since withdrawing from the US Open:

“I think I am feeling better, the knee is improving the right way and I am happy to be on court another time after a few months outside…I am just enjoying the feeling to be playing tennis another time and, well, it will be another period of my recovery…I start very slow and I go day by day. I will work hard in my comeback and hopefully the knee will be ready soon…Always you have to be careful. A few months outside of competition the body has to re-adapt everything on court and all the muscles need to start very slow.”

The latest knee injury, which became glaringly obvious after his second-round loss to Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon, is actually a partial tear of the Patella tendon in his left knee. Before the injury, he’d been having a remarkable 2012, losing a close one to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open Final, then winning his seventh French Open title.

Check Rafa’s twitter feed, by the way – @PokerStars is offering you an opportunity to meet him if you tweet a picture of your poker face with #MyPokerFace.