Playing in his first competitive tennis match in nearly a year, Rafael Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem 7-5, 6-1 at the Brisbane International on Tuesday in Brisbane, Australia.

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Nadal was happy with his performance after the fact, saying: "Today is honestly an emotional and important day for me. It was a very positive level [for] the first day."

The 37-year-old veteran had not played a singles match of consequence since the Australian Open in January 2023 when he was upset by American Mackenzie McDonald in the second round.

Nadal was significantly hampered by a hip injury during the match, and he spent the better part of the past year rehabbing in hopes of being healthy for the Grand Slam slate in 2024.

Given that he missed almost an entire year, Nadal's world ranking dropped to No. 672, requiring him to enter the Brisbane International as a wild card.

Provided he stays healthy and continues to play at a level similar to what he displayed Tuesday, it seems likely that Nadal will play in the 2024 Aussie Open, but he won't require a wild card to do so.

José Morgado of Record in Portugal reported last month that Nadal is expected to use protected ranking to qualify for the Australian Open field.

Protected ranking is a way for players who suffer long-term injuries to qualify for tournaments rather than starting from scratch, as it uses their average ranking from the first three months they were injured to determine where they will be placed in the field.

Before getting injured, Nadal was one of the top-ranked players in the world, and he was the No. 1 seed in the 2023 Australian Open.

Nadal, who is a two-time Aussie Open champion and 22-time Grand Slam singles champion overall, has a chance to inch closer to Novak Djokovic's career Grand Slam record of 24 if he can win the 2024 Australian Open straight off the injured list.

That will be a tough task for Nadal given that he missed the final three Grand Slams of 2023, but he looked to be in vintage form Tuesday.

Playing against a former world No. 3 and the 2020 U.S. Open champion in Thiem, Nadal was never truly threatened, and he won eight of the final nine games in the match to win in just 89 minutes.

The Australian Open will be far more grueling since the matches are best of five sets rather than three, but stamina has rarely been an issue for Rafa throughout his legendary career.

In his next match at the Brisbane International, Nadal is set to face Australia's Jason Kubler in the round of 16 on Wednesday.

The 2024 Aussie Open is scheduled to begin on Jan. 14 in Melbourne, and it will run through Jan. 28.