Under the sun of the so-called tennis paradise, the tournament of Indian Wellsthe best start to the year of his career (20-0) ended for Nadal, with a painful –both moral and physical– defeat in the final against Taylor Fritz. Ironically, in the place with the bluest sky possible, the black clouds on Rafa’s horizon reappeared. The physical discomforts that kept him seven months out clues, resurfaced to test him for the umpteenth time, this time in the form of a crack in a rib that will have him more than a month off.
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After the elimination against Lloyd Harris in Washington DC in August of last year, and the five long months of recovery of his left foot, nobody expected a return so tremendous of a player who came to consider retirement. However, as if the pain caused by Müller-Weiss syndrome had never existed, he grabbed his racket in Australia to win two titles, the Melbourne Summer Set with which he regained sensations, and the Australian Open in a final for the story that led him to be the first male tennis player to win 21 Grand Slams.
What was achieved until January 30 was already an unlikely feat given the effort, but far from reserving himself for Indian Wells, the man from Manacor signed up for the Acapulco appointment. In Mexico he lifted the title for the fourth time, defeating again in the semifinals Daniil Medvedevand prevailing in the final without giving up a single set (increasing his streak to 20 consecutive victories on the Mexican hard court).
Nadal arrived in California as the top favorite, and when no one imagined any other photo than his biting the translucent trophy -and reaching Djokovic in number of Masters 1000 (37)–, the ghosts of the Roland Garros semifinals that he lost to the Serbian last June reappeared.
Nadal’s new physical ordeal began in the round of 16 against Reilly Opelka, a very physical game in which the left foot warned the Balearic again. Then came a marathon match against Nick Kyrgios, in which the Australian took him to the limit in the third set. But the final storm appeared in the semifinals, when in a tennis gale against Carlos Alcarazthe number three in the world felt an unexpected discomfort, a puncture in the chest that he did not count on.
The face in the locker room tunnel before jumping to the final, less than 24 hours later, indicated that something was not quite right in Rafa’s body. From the first ball, the 21-time Grand Slam champion seemed slower and imprecise of the account, something that would indicate a bulky 6-3 against a player who also jumped on the court touched. Minutes later, confirmation of the seriousness of the situation would be appreciated during the massage by the physiotherapist on the track, in which Rafa could not repress a clear wince of extreme pain.
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“It’s like I have a needle in me all the time. It makes me feel a little dizzy.”
Even so, Nadal worked hard to try a new impossible comeback, and forced a tie break in which he was inches away – with a quick forehand without letting the ball bounce – from taking the American to the decisive set. At the press conference after the match, he did not hide his disappointment explaining his sensations on the court: «When I breathe and when I move it is as if I have a needle inside all the time. It makes me feel a little dizzy because it’s painful », she recounted without knowing what could cause it.
Upon his return to Spain, Nadal did not hesitate to put himself in the hands of his trusted doctor, Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro, who confirmed the suspicions of the Indian Wells runner-up, who suffers a stress crack of the left third costal archproduced in the semifinal clash against the great promise of Spanish tennis.
The injury, which adds to the foot discomfort with which he has lived throughout his career, comes at a very delicate time, the weeks before the start of the gravel tour. The spanish plan was aiming to give up Miami, tournament that starts today and that offers a new opportunity to Carlos Alcaraz and Paula Badosato focus on the succession of clay tournaments in the months of April, May and June.
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Dr. Cotorro’s prognosis indicates that the recovery period will be between 4 and 6 weeks, which would mean missing Montecarlo and the Godó and get very close to Madrid. As this is a tournament with qualities very different from those of Roland Garros –the great objective–, it is most likely that he will choose to return to Rome, in what would be the last contact before his favorite Grand Slam.
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