“Until his injury, he was the favourite for Roland Garros,” Boris Becker feels Rafael Nadal’s injury to be a major setback to his claycourt plans

“Until his injury, he was the favourite for Roland Garros,” Boris Becker feels Rafael Nadal’s injury to be a major setback to his claycourt plans

Rafael Nadal, Boris Becker

Rafael Nadal made a splendid comeback from his chronic foot injury to lift the Australian Open and wen tone ahead of rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in terms of Grand Slam tally. The 35-year-old Spaniard had a great start to the year by winning the title in Melbourne ahead of the Happy Slam.

He took one match at a time and defeated next-gen stars like Denis Shapovalov, Matteo Berrettini and Daniil Medvedev respectively to lift his second Australian Open title. He continued that scintillating form with another dominant win in Mexico. He defeated Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in straight sets to lift the title.

Nadal also got the better of Medvedev in Mexico in the semifinals. He showed the same top quality tennis at the Indian Wells with an equal amount of hunger to win titles just like in his teenage days. But Despite him reaching the finals, he lost to local star Taylor Fritz. It was still a very commendable journey for Nadal but a stress fracture on his rib has completely spoilt the mood for the Spaniard and his followers.

The 21-time Grand Slam winner felt some pain during his Indian Wells semifinals clash against Carlos Alcaraz. Braving the pain, Nadal won the match and also came out strongly to play against Fritz in the finals. But he simply could not match the American’s level in the title clash as he was feeling the discomfort.

Since the injury, Nadal has missed the Miami Open, Monte Carlo Masters and will also miss the Barcelona Open. There is no news on when he will return but some sources close to the player have revealed that Nadal’s aim is to get fully fit and feature at the Roland Garros. However, six time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker feels there is a lot of uncertainty in the situation and with every passing tournament, the Spaniard’s chances of returning back in time is gradually waning.

“He was actually invincible until he injured himself,” Boris Becker opens up on Rafael Nadal’s injury

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

Speaking on Eurosport, Boris Becker shares how Nadal was playing like a dream on tour before he unfortunately got injured and now is spending time on the sidelines with the aim of coming back as soon as possible. Becker also added how he had a rib injury in the past and they are very painful and not something that recovers overnight putting questions on Nadal’s participation at the upcoming Roland Garros.

“Nadal was actually considered invincible until he injured himself in the semi-final against Alcaraz, who played for over three hours. Something must be wrong with his rib. I had that once too. It hurts a lot and it takes a long time until you can play properly again because you need it to breathe. And especially now for the clay court season, this is of course a big setback for him,” Becker began.

The German hailed Rafael Nadal as the favorite for this year’s Roland Garros until he got injured. But now Becker analysed the time the 35-year-old will get ahead of the Roland Garros and feels it will be very difficult for him to come back and instantly perform in Paris. He added, “Until the injury, he was considered the favourite for Roland Garros and now he has to get healthy again and play his first matches on clay. And it is not yet clear when he will start again. He won’t play Monte Carlo. He also cancelled Barcelona, so Madrid at the earliest. Paris – that’s in three weeks. So good luck that the Spaniard will be healthy.”

Also Read: Barbora Krejčíková picks herself ahead of Rafael Nadal as one of the best players on clay

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