Rafael Nadal to miss entire 2023 tennis season as champion in tears at press conference
Winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, Nadal says 2024 will probably his last year.
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Nadal caught his latest injury during the 2023 Australian Open (Image Credits: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Break point. It is one of the most used phrases during a tennis match. Break point is that stage in a match out of which you can come any number of times. The smart player will find a way to come out of the trenches, firing. A weak player will succumb, as break point can break the player — male or female.
To cut the clutter, the winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles in tennis, Rafael Nadal, now stares at a different break point in his career. This “break point” is not in terms of staring down the barrel for one point, but his whole career. On Thursday, Rafa announced he is taking a break from tennis for the entire year. No French Open, no Wimbledon, and no US Open, as it appears now. He held a press conference to explain his trauma. He also hinted that 2024 could be his last year in tennis.
Ah, who would have thought the Spanish hero would reach this stage in his career where his body refuses to cooperate with him? Injuries are part and parcel of an athlete’s career, whatever be the sport. It is almost impossible to be a 100 percent fit. To be sure, Rafa was rarely a 100 percent fit in these last few years.
His body has been subjected to phenomenal beating and pounding, given the physical nature of his game. The Spanish maestro made winning points a bit laborious, though he has millions of fans who love him for it. Be it hard, clay, or grass courts, Rafa’s game was a bit exaggerated in terms of motion on the court. It has been an extremely physical game. A rough analogy, when you are in a contact sport, you can take the beating.
In tennis, when the body takes a beating, recovery is hard and arduous. Rafael Nadal has faced break points innumerable times in his career. This break point, wherein he has to be away from his famous hunting ground, the brick-red Parisian clay courts at Roland Garros is painful. He won the title here 14 times!
Painful in more than one way, of it being physical, mental, and emotional. The last time he played a match was at the Australian Open, where he lost to a guy whose name rhymed with an American junk food item often consumed. Ok, yes, Rafa lost to Mackenzie McDonald. On an usual day, Rafa would have made a meal of the Yank on the tennis court. In January 2023, McDonald tossed Rafa out of the Aus Open down under.
The dark clouds which hang over the Spanish legend’s career are painful. His body has been subjected to trauma, his fans even greater trauma. Where does it go from here, really? Well, a break from tennis is nothing new, yet what flummoxes the tennis world is how Rafael Nadal is unable to attain full fitness. He is haunted, even though he has faced tough situations before. Yet, the break from January 2023 till the third week of May is full of intrigue.
In usual days, by now he would be like a refurbished race car, ready to eat up terra firma below him. No, now the ground is slipping for Rafa. A cocktail of injuries, a dark voyage into the unknown, the uncertainty is killing Rafa. Break point? Yes. This time, Rafa has made the pause at break point a long one, not something which the chair umpire will allow.
Rafael Nadal not the first one to take such kind of break
This break point is like hitting the roadblock, blocked by a boulder that cannot be moved an inch. You can look at it negatively and you can also look at it minus passion. The guy suffering can be asked to retire, pack up. The final decision is with Rafael Nadal and his family, none else.
He is not the first guy to face this trauma nor will he be the lost guy. Everyone is not like Bjorn Borg, who retired at 26, as he was bored with having won too much. Pete Sampras pulled the trigger on his own career when he won the US Open. These two champions never left room for debates, though Borg’s comeback attempt was like a tragic miscarriage.
If you look at women’s tennis, players have taken maternity breaks and come back. The prime example of fighting against all odds was Serena Williams. She was pregnant when she won her last Australian Open and then took a maternity break. The comeback after Alexia was born was not easy at all. Yet, she proved detractors wrong and played hard tennis, though she faced many break points on the court which ravaged her. After all, not being able to win her 24th Grand Slam singles title, which would have put her on par with Margaret Court, was a dream not cherished.
Rafael Nadal came to the Grand Slam mark of 22 singles titles first, in 2022. After that, Novak Djokovic has taken over. But then, these days, he is also losing matches on clay, which is unacceptable to many fans!
You can love or hate Rafa, but you cannot take his Grand Slam titles away from him. The world waits with bated breath on his return to the tennis courts. After all, his buddy, err pal, Roger Federer, also retired in 2022 September after a few knee operations after making a song and dance of it at the Laver Cup.
If Rafael Nadal plans a comeback, he has to ensure he is 100 percent fit. It should not be like that old jalopy, which breaks down. What say? For the record, 2024 can be his last year, as insinuated by the legendary player himself.
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S Kannan
(382 Articles Published)