“He didn’t want to make this announcement, but the people around him, his physicians, told him not to play, because the risk was that the tendon could break”. But the 14-time grand slam victor had to skip the U.S. Open in 2014 with a right wrist problem.
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Nadal, a professional to his fingertips, sat patiently as the room filled, and then made his own statement. Every day that happens is stronger, and I arrived here with a little bit of pain but something that I think I was able to manage.
“Every day was a little bit worse”. We spent a lot of hours here working so hard to try to play.
“If it was not Roland Garros I would probably not take risks on playing the first two days, but it is the most important event of the year for me so we tried our best”.
“I can not play with my forehand”, Nadal said, referring to his best shot, a spin-laden uppercut.
But Nadal, a left-hander, said he played that match only after receiving a painkilling injection in his left wrist, and he spoke at his news conference on Friday with the wrist in a blue brace. “I hope he will recover quickly and come back to the circuit”. The results are not positive. “But if I keep on playing, it’s gonna be broken”.
This is the latest setback to hit the 14-time Grand Slam champion during an injury-plagued career.
Nadal had been expected to face world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, having lost to the Serb in the quarters previous year.
Meanwhile, the second-seeded Murray is scheduled to cross the swords with American 15th seed John Isner for a place in the quarter-finals. Nadal’s chances of winning another French Open title and going for Federer’s record could be over, as his best chances were at Roland Garros and he will have to wait another 12 months to win it again.
Tournament director Guy Forget expressed his sadness at Nadal’s misfortune, but said the show must go on without the most successful player in Roland Garros history.
That match was due to take place following the second-round mixed doubles match featuring fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung and Henri Kontinen of Finland against eighth-seeded United States duo Coco Vandeweghe and Bob Bryan.
Long touted as one of the rising stars of the ATP circuit, Thiem has struggled to make his mark in the biggest tournaments, but he feels that much has changed over the past year to improve his game. “We might play on centre court, one of the two big ones, and I’m sure he will give it his all”.
“But, you know, when I am coming to Roland Garros, I am coming thinking about winning the tournament”. “To win the tournament I need five more matches. that is almost 100 percent impossible”.
Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated relayed further details from Nadal, who had felt the pain for the past three tournaments and added, “every day is worse”. That’s it. I have to take that very bad decision for me, but just that’s part of the life, part of my career, too.
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With Wimbledon starting next month, Nadal admitted he needs to focus on his recovery in order to be ready to compete. I need a couple of weeks.
