Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return during his men's singles tennis match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London July 1, 2014.
Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return during his men's singles tennis match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London July 1, 2014. REUTERS

Former world's no.1 Rafael Nadal is back on the tennis court, practicing with his team days after suffering an injured right wrist that forced him to withdraw from tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati.

Nadal, who shocked the sporting world last week following the news that he broke his right wrist before the start of US Open series, is in the race against time to recover from his injury, but he once again showed the resilience of a true champion by plunging into practice despite the injury.

Gunning for his 15th Grand Slam title of his career, the Mallorcan Bull just couldn't allow his injury to prevent him from being active on the court. On Saturday, Nadal posted a photo on his Instagram showing him hitting balls with this left hand.

Nadal, sporting a black splint in his injured right wrist, was reportedly not allowed to use a double-handed backhands to prevent further damage to his injury. Nevertheless, Nadal practicing is an encouraging sighting that the Spaniard is determined to compete at the upcoming US Open championship, where he is the defending champion.

On Sunday, Nadal's doctor provided a time table on the recovery of the former top-ranked netter, stating that it could take 2-3 weeks before Nadal can use his right hand.

"It is a common injury in tennis, but it must be well treated to avoid problems." Dr. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro told Cope.Es via Tennis World USA. "The recovery period is between two and three weeks, we'll see how gets and from the evolution if he can participate or not."

Nadal and His Quest for No.15

Nadal's quest to become the winningest player in Grand Slam tennis history has been derailed by a freak injury during practice. Despite his hiccups on the grass of All-England club, the Spaniard is still a top contender entering the North American hard court season on a strength of his epic performance last year, when he went 22-0 on his way to capturing the Rogers Cup, Cincinnati Masters and his second US Open title.

Due to the injury, Nadal already lost 2,000 of the 4,000 ATP points he needed to defend by withdrawing from the two US Open warm-up events. This decision by Nadal's camp cast more clouds of doubts on his chances to retain the world's no.1 ranking at the end of the year.

With Novak Djokovic seemingly in control of the driving seat so far and Roger Federer recapturing his mojo, it will be harder for Nadal to conjure another miracle in New York. Then again, Nadal proved number of times of already it is not wise to bet against him, even at his darkest moment.

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