The nine-times French Open champion, with his wrist heavily strapped, appeared with virtually no announcement in the media centre to give what he went on to describe as “the toughest press conference in my career”.
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A day after notching up his 200th grand slam victory with an imperious 6-3 6-0 6-3 second-round win over Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis, a grim-faced Nadal walked into a hurriedly arranged news conference wearing a navy blue brace around his stricken wrist.
Fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers, who Nadal had been due to face, receives a walkover into the fourth round, where he will play either Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev.
“Yesterday I played with an injection”. To win the tournament I need five more matches.
After his somewhat successful stint in the clay-season, winning back-to-back titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and playing the best tennis of his career following a forgetful season a year ago, Nadal goes back to square one, no thanks to the left wrist injury he suffered amid an impressive run at the French Open.
The claycourt slam has been robbed of two of its biggest attractions after Roger Federer, the 17-times grand slam champion and victor in 2009, withdrew with a back injury last week.
It’s part of life and I hope to be back at Roland Garros for many years to come.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal pulled out of the French Open citing a wrist injury.
Following a 2015 plagued by injury and ailment – coupled with allegations regarding undisclosed blood tests relating to doping issues – Nadal now faces a battle to be fit for Wimbledon next month.
“We tried to do all the treatments possible, every single day, working so hard to try and play”, Nadal said.
Nadal, seeded fourth this year, said he has been dealing with a wrist problem for a couple of weeks and arrived in Paris before the French Open with “a little bit of pain”, but that it progressively worsened. This is a very bad position for me. There was no hint of injury, and there had been no indication in the lead up tournament inRome or indeed Madrid where Nadal says he first discovered the problem.
The pullout, in relation to this French Open, will be a huge boost to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who is bidding to complete his grand slam collection in Paris. So today I can tell you that I will not play before I have recovered entirely.
“It’s (the tendon) not torn, but if I keep playing, it’s gonna be torn in the next couple of days”.
In English, he said he would “work hard” to be ready for the year’s lone grass-court major but in Spanish later he conceded he could miss three months.
“I feel myself with the right motivation and the right energy to be back at Roland Garros the next couple of years”. I just hope that he is better for the big tournaments and the Olympics this summer because it’ll be odd not seeing him go deep into the tournament here.
There will be no 10th French Open title for Nadal in 2016.
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“So, yeah, I’m expecting a tough one, because now it’s third round and slowly we are getting into second week of the tournament”.
