Nadal ready for ‘painful’ recovery

Spaniard Rafael Nadal admitted yesterday he faces a “difficult” and “painful” recovery from the foot injury that forced the 20-time Grand Slam champion to miss Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.

The 35-year-old said he is “looking forward to improving and facing a process that will be difficult in some ways and painful in others but that I have to go through to fight for what I want again.”