Following two rounds of medical treatment, the 36-year-old Spanish star flew to London before committing to playing at Wimbledon. Nadal suffered with pain in his foot during the clay-court Grand Slam and it cast a shadow of doubt over his fitness heading into the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament.

On Thursday, Nadal and last year’s losing finalist, Matteo Berrettini, wrote their own piece of Wimbledon history by becoming the first ever players to play a practice match on Centre Court.

The pair played a warm-up match lasting 45 minutes.

Last year there was an issue with the court being too slippery and this led to players such as the 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams of the USA, and Adrian Mannarino of France falling during the opening rounds. This led to both players having to retire from their matches at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The idea behind Nadal and Berrettini playing on the Centre Court was to wear in the surface slightly in order to prevent retirements at the grass court slam.

Nadal has been seeded second for Wimbledon which gets underway on Monday. The draw for Wimbledon will be conducted on Friday morning.

An historic pre-tournament practice on Centre Court for Matteo Berrettini and @RafaelNadal#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/bT9DtMLcaB

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 23, 2022

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport