Rafael Nadal’s cry at Melbourne Park, after losing to Mackenzie McDonald (6-4, 6-4 and 7-5) and suffering another injury (in his hip) – which will see him out between six and eight weeks – has made the world and caused fear. Tennis player no. arrangement ATP, is 36 years old and has had a career marked by trophies… and injuries.
Since entering the elite, according to a survey conducted by DN, using tennis world, the tennis player has suffered at least one injury per year, with the exception of 2015, the year in which he said he suffered a “mental injury” because he could not control his emotions at key moments. Now he says he is “mentally wrecked”.
Nadal’s physical ordeal started early. In 2003, aged just 17 years old, he suffered an elbow injury while training at Manacor, forcing him to withdraw from what was to be his first match. grand slam and where today he is king with 14 titles – Roland Garros. A year later, a stress fracture in his left foot, during the Estoril Open, forced him to retire for two months and again miss his debut at Roland Garros as well as Wimbledon and the Athens Olympics.
In 2005 he was again penalized with the left foot: three months out of competition. After his return, he won the Masters in Madrid and again suffered the foot problem (the same one that pulled him out of the Australian Open in January 2006). That year, after winning Roland Garros, saw a back injury force him to withdraw from The Queen’s Club, but he recovered in time to reach his first Wimbledon final and play in the ATP Finals for the first time.
In 2007, left arm cramps combined with a knee injury in a hellish year, which continued into 2008 with a knee tendon injury that ended a grueling 111-game season and his arrival at world No. 1 for the first time in his career. The injury worsened in 2009 and caused him to fall early on clay in Paris, preventing him from defending his Wimbledon title. Later, during the US Open, he suffered from abdominal problems. Months later, Nadal’s knee punished Nadal again in Australia. He reached the quarter-finals, but then bounced back for one of the best seasons of his career, returning to the top of the arrangement ATP.
After the glory, another injury: an adductor problem forced him to leave the Australian court in tears.
make history with pain
The worst was yet to come: in 2012 he suffered one of the biggest injuries of his career. After winning (again) at Roland Garros, his left knee kicked in again at Wimbledon (defeat to Lukas Rosol) and forced him to end the season in July. He did not return until five months later, in 2013, the year he suffered back pain in Australia. A year later, it was the heartbeat (a novelty) that took Spanish out of tournaments in Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open. He returned in 2015, a spotless year, with no physical injuries, but in 2016 he would suffer another wrist injury, cutting short trips to Paris and London.
Nadal finished the 2017 season with 68 wins and again at the top of the rankings. In November of that year, days after his coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, remembered that “Rafa hasn’t spent a whole season without injury for many years,” the tennis player felt pain in his right knee and missed the London Masters. In January of the following year, he went to Australia, but retired to quarters with pain in his right thigh. In 2018, he played only nine games and also retired from the US Open: “It’s always the knee, but this time it was more aggressive.”
So plagued with injuries, the Spaniard cut short the season in 2019 to avoid a relapse or injury, but muscle pain in his right thigh caused him to pull out of the Paris Masters and the knee prevented him from fighting Federer in Indian Wells. In 2020, the pandemic reduced the calendar to half a dozen tournaments and Nadal took Roland Garros in the thousand career wins.
In September 2021, he appeared on crutches after surgery on his left foot (Müller-Weiss syndrome, a rare regenerative disease that affects one of the bones in the foot). He missed Wimbledon and the Olympics again and as he prepared to return he contracted Covid-19 and recovered in time to play in Melbourne, where he won the 22nd Grand Prix last year, aged 35. Slam won and became the record holder. and surpassing Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The question remains: how much taller would Rafael Nadal be without injuries?
Source: DN
