While tennis 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal of Spain admitted that having injuries in the middle of a season is tough, he was still full of optimism about his comeback performance.

The former world No. 1 made the revelation on Sunday at the ongoing 2016 China Open.

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According to Xinhua, the Spanish tennis superstar pulled out from the recent French Open in May of this year due to an aggravating injury on his wrist and also has withdrawn from the Wimbledon Championships last July for the same reason.

"It's even more difficult when you have injuries in the middle of the season," the native of Manacor, Balearic Islands said. "If you have the injuries at the end of the season, everybody stops at the end of the season, so you have time to recover." 

The 30-year-old Nadal, who was a 2008 Summer Olympic Games gold medalist in the men's singles event, returned and competed at the Rio Olympic Games in Brazil and won his second Olympic gold medal after winning in the men's doubles last August.

"I should be happy the way I came back after the injury. I played a great Olympic Game, and I played a good US Open," he shared. "I lost a match against a very good player, but a match that I had a big chance to win."

Nadal was defeated by Frenchman Lucas Pouille in five sets at the recently concluded US Open last month. The two professional tennis players may have a rematch at the quarterfinal round of the ATP World Tour 500 event.

Nadal will be facing Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the first round of the China Open.

Basing from the official website of the ITF, the 34-year-old Italian tennis ace currently ranks No. 35 in the world rankings and it will be their third official matchup, with Nadal winning over Lorenzi in their last two meetings.

Tagsrafael nadal, atp, China Open, ITF, tennis news, Rio Olympics 2016