Rafael Nadal says he doubted "every single day" whether he could ever come back

Rafael Nadal beat Karen Khachanov in four sets on Friday to reach the fourth round of the 2022 Australian Open. But after the match, Nadal claimed that there was a time during his injury rehabilitation phase when he doubted whether he could ever return to top-flight tennis.

The Spaniard won the Rome Masters and the Barcelona Open last year but ended his season early due to the foot injury he suffered at Roland Garros. He returned to action at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in December, and finished a disappointing fourth after losing to Andy Murray and Denis Shapovalov.

But Nadal has won all of his matches in 2022 so far, clinching the Melbourne Summer Set 1 event before getting through three rounds of the Australian Open unscathed.

The 35-year-old seems to be in good shape at present, but getting to this point was not a foregone conclusion. When asked if he doubted whether he would return to the court, Nadal said:

"Every single day. For a lot of months, sometimes I went on court with the team and was not able to practice for 20 minutes, nowadays for 45 minutes, and then sometimes I was able to practice for two hours. It was very difficult to predict every single day and I was working with the doctor, trying to find a solution. I was trying different things, it is tough."

Rafael Nadal has dealt with a string of injuries over the years, and has managed to come back strongly every time. But the Spaniard doesn't take anything for granted, and on Friday he outlined the exact plan he forms in his head whenever he gets injured.

"Even though I went through that process a couple of times in my career, I always say the same," Nadal said. "The injuries are much easier to accept when you know that you have a calendar."

"Now, if you twist your ankle or break your wrist; I did a couple of times in my career, then you know it will be three months," he added. "You have an agenda and every week, you do a different thing. But with injuries, honestly, it's much tougher now because everyday, you go to the gym and to the court and without improvement, mentally it's much tougher."

Nadal went on to suggest he has made his peace with injuries, before asserting that he wants to enjoy all the time he has left in tennis.

"But I am very satisfied with the way that I approach it," the 35-year-old said. "I don't know what will happen in the future but I am enjoying every single day."

Rafael Nadal to face Adrian Mannarino in the fourth round of the Australian Open

Rafael Nadal has been in good form lately

After winning the Melbourne Summer Set 1, Nadal entered the Australian Open as the sixth seed. The Spaniard started by beating Marcos Giron 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round, and he followed that up with another straight-sets win in the second round - this time over German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann.

Rafael Nadal took on Karen Khachanov in the third round, and won the first two sets comfortably. However, the Russian fought back to win the third.

Nadal soon returned to his best though, clinching the fourth set 6-1 to advance to the fourth round of the tournament. He will next take on France's Adrian Mannarino, who beat 18th seed Aslan Karatsev later in the day.

If Nadal beats Mannarino, he will face either third seed Alexander Zverev or Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals.