The ITF's Katrina Adams stays on the front lines for women with the Tory Burch Foundation Sports Fellowship

Rafael Nadal announced on Twitter Monday that he’s finally back on the practice court—for a light practice—after being sidelined four weeks due to a stress fracture in his rib.

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Hoy tras 4 semanas sin pisar una pista de tenis, primer entrenamiento suave 👌🏻
Que ilusión volver a pisar la tierra! 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/JC9j0MPGzD
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) April 18, 2022

The injury occurred at Indian Wells, where he reached the 53rd Masters 1000 final of his career before falling to American Taylor Fritz. After the tournament he returned to Spain and underwent tests to diagnose it, and announced he would be out of action for four to six weeks.

The Spaniard was forced to miss two of his best tournaments—Monte Carlo last week, where he’s an 11-time champion, and Barcelona this week, where he’s a 12-time champion.

Madrid takes place the week after next, with Rome directly behind.

Nadal had an historic start to 2022, getting off to a blistering 20-0 start—the best unbeaten start to a year in his career—in winning the Melbourne Summer Set, the Australian Open and Acapulco, then reaching the final of Indian Wells.

By capturing his 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, he became the men’s all-time leader for most career Grand Slam titles, breaking a three-way tie with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

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