Rafael Nadal misses the start of the clay court season due to a long-term muscle injury. The Spaniard has had many breaks in his career but always managed to make a comeback.
Rafael Nadal’s fans currently need a particularly thick skin. The Spanish tennis star, who has been out for months due to a muscle injury in his hip flexor and groin, has now also had to withdraw from the tournament in Monte Carlo.
“I’m still not ready to play at the highest level. I can’t take part in one of the most important tournaments of my career“Nadal tweeted a few days before the Masters tournament, which begins on Saturday (April 8th, 2023) and marks the start of the clay court season.
“This will be his worst enemy”
For nearly two decades, this has been the time Nadal has thrived. He has already won the tournament in the Principality eleven times – only at the French Open (14 titles) has he won more often. But many fear that further successes will not come. Because doubts are growing that Nadal will make a comeback again.
“The last thing Rafa would ever lose is his actual game. I think he’s getting better at hitting the ball and getting more and more creative. But he’s slowing down because he can’t exercise as much anymore and is getting older. This will be his greatest enemy“Said Mats Wilander, for example, number one in tennis in the 1980s and now an expert at “Eurosport”.
Nadal prepares more conscientiously than ever
The 36-year-old Nadal is also aware of this fact. Accordingly, he now treats his body with care and only wants to start again when he is really ready. Nadal definitely wants to prevent a setback. “I am not yet able to play with the maximum guarantees and am continuing my preparation process hoping to return soon”he said now.
Even before his Monte Carlo cancellation, Nadal had emphasized: “I’ve taken some time off. I’ve started rehab, gym and physical therapy – as directed by the doctors. I’m preparing to come back in the best conditions.” This includes not only getting the body ready again, but also having the class to win games again.
Terrible experience at the Australian Open
The clay court king – he won 63 of his 92 tournaments on the surface – has not played a game on the ATP tour since January. At the Australian Open, he was unable to repeat his success from the previous year due to his injury. “I didn’t want to give up as the defending champion‘ Nadal said after his second-round loss: ‘Sometimes it’s frustrating. Sometimes it’s hard to accept. Sometimes you feel tired because of all these injuries.“
Because Nadal had to fight back countless times. There is probably no tennis player who has brought such an intense style of play to the court over such a long period of time. Nadal’s success was always based on his hard top spin shots and running skills, matches and rallies were often particularly long for him, especially in the top duels. However, wear and tear is also correspondingly high.
Injured again and again for 14 years
“It’s almost a miracle I’ve never finished outside the top 10 with all the injuries I’ve had over the past 18 years“Said Nadal at the beginning of March, when for the first time after 912 weeks he was no longer among the top ten tennis players according to the world rankings. On April 25, 2005, the then 18-year-old rose to this elite sphere for the first time.
Just four years later, his career became an interplay of injuries and successes. Due to tendinitis in his knees, he canceled his participation in the Wimbledon grass classic in 2009, and a knee injury also put him out of action for more than six months from July 2012 to February 2013. Big problems with the wrist followed later, then the hip – and the knees remained a weak point anyway.
“His” French Open is the big goal
In 2021, Nadal revealed that he had suffered from Müller-Weiss syndrome in his left foot since childhood. In the process, the outer parts of the navicular bone recede. At that time he even thought of retiring, but instead he made it back to the top. In 2022 Nadal won the Australian Open and then a few months later the French Open for the 14th time. At Wimbledon, however, he had to withdraw from the semi-finals due to a tear in his abdominal muscle – and now the groin and hip are affected again.
Rafael Nadal has torn an abdominal muscle.
Nadal’s tournament success in Paris was the 92nd of his career and the last so far. A year later he wants to be back on the pitch there at the latest – and even old companions trust him to do that. “He will be fit for the clay court tour, I have a lot of faith in him for Roland Garros“said former top player David Ferrer. On May 28, the French Open will start. Nadal has a little less than two months left to show the tennis world that he is the undeniable one.