A long way away from return of Nadal? (4)
I believe the answer is:
afar
'a long way' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'away from return of nadal?' is the wordplay.
'away' becomes 'A' (abbreviation as used in sports fixtures).
'from' says to put letters next to each other.
'return of' is a reversal indicator.
'nadal?' becomes 'raf' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'raf' in reverse letter order is 'far'.
'a'+'far'='AFAR'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for afar that I've seen before include "At a distance (literary)" , "from baseline to baseline?" , "long way back" , "Way-out" , "Inhabitant of Ethiopia" .)