Rafael Nadal's sister Maribel reacts to Spaniard's training session at Barcelona Open as he gears up for potential comeback

Rafael Nadal has received a strong show of support from his sister Maribel as he gears up for a potential comeback at the 2024 Barcelona Open.

Nadal's highly anticipated return to the tour during the 2024 season has been marred by one setback after another. The 22-time Grand Slam champion suffered an unfortunate injury at the Brisbane International in January, which has forced him to repeatedly postpone his comeback.

Most recently, the Spaniard devastated fans by pulling out of the Monte-Carlo Masters due to lingering issues from his injury setbacks, delaying his start to the claycourt season.

During an appearance at his home team RCD Mallorca's Copa del Rey final, the 37-year-old reaffirmed that, while he wouldn't rule out a comeback at the Barcelona Open or Madrid Open, his body was still refusing to cooperate.

"I don't rule out anything, not even being in Barcelona or Madrid, but at the moment, I am not being able to get there due to physical problems," he said.

Rafael Nadal has since arrived at the Barcelona Open ahead of the ATP 500 event's commencement on April 15 and has resumed training. However, he still urged caution about his participation in the tournament as he shared a glimpse of his practice session on social media.

"Hello from Barcelona 👋🏻 First training session... excited to be here these days leading up to the tournament. I'm here to see how you doing.. looking forward to trying to play. I'll go tell you. Important to say that I don't want to confirm that I will play, hopefully I will. We shall see 🤞🏻," he captioned his Instagram post (as translated from Spanish).

The Spaniard's sister Maribel shared her support for his training session, signaling her encouragement with heart-eye and muscle emojis.

"😍😍💪🏻," she commented.

Maribel's comment under the Spaniard's Instagram post

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"You want that goodbye at Roland Garros; it would suck if Rafael Nadal can't get that" - Andy Roddick

Rafael Nadal won the 2022 French Open

Andy Roddick recently expressed his desire to see Rafael Nadal retire after competing at the 2024 French Open, saying that it would be very unfortunate if the Spaniard's injury setbacks prevents him from doing so.

"Obviously, you want that goodbye at Roland Garros; it would suck if he (Rafael Nadal) can't get that. I got to think, like, if he's practicing but not serving well, I still got to think he's going to throw that out there in Roland Garros," he said on an episode of the 'Served with Andy Roddick' podcast.

Roddick also suggested that the 14-time French Open champion would consider ending his career at the claycourt Major. However, he acknowledged that such a decision might simply be a reaction to his "frustrating" situation instead of a premeditated plan.

"He wants to say goodbye at the place that he's won 14 times. I want that for him, but frankly, I don't think there's a plan. I think you're reacting to the situation, and that is frustrating as a player because we plan out our schedules a year in advance," he said.

"You can plan like, 'I like this tournament,' 'I don't like that tournament,' 'this gives me the best chance of success,' and it's that you're pretty confident at a certain point in your career with what the best decision is regarding schedule," he added.

Despite Roddick's speculation about Nadal's potential retirement, the Spaniard himself previously expressed an interest in participating in the Paris Olympics, which will be held at the French Open venue.