“It’s impossible to win a tournament” When Rafael Nadal disagreed with Novak Djokovic winning the Australian Open with an abdominal injury
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Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal, this year’s Wimbledon Semi-finalist was looking phenomenal as he dominated almost all of his opponents. The 35-year-old Roland Garros champion had to withdraw from the semi-finals after suffering an abdominal tear injury after the first set in the quarter-finals against Taylor Fritz. Rafa later went on to win the game in the final set by tie-breaker which booked the semi-finals berth for the Spaniard.
After the game was finished, the interviewer asked him about the severity of his injury to which he responded that he is unsure whether he can play the semi-finals against Nick Kyrgios or not. He further emphasized that something is really not going well in his abdomen and he needs a check which will decide whether he can further play in the tournament.
When Rafael Nadal told he would rather be recovering than playing with an injury
Novak Djokovic, another Semi-finalist in this year’s Wimbledon who will face Cameron Norrie next, suffered from a similar injury during the Australian Open in the third round against Taylor Fritz and the Serbian superstar insisted it was a tear and claimed it might prevent him from being able to see out the rest of the Australian Open but instead the latter came out winning the tournament.
At that time, Rafa weighed in on the topic and explained how difficult it is to play a grand slam tournament with an abdominal tear. The Spaniard, back then, refused to take a shot at Djokovic but highlighted his own experiences at the 2009 US Open when an abdominal strain eventually got the better of him.
“You need to find a balance, but of course at this point of my career, if there is a big chance to increase something very important, probably I will not play, If you have some pain and it’s not putting you in a situation that limits you, the movements, maybe you can find a way.“
“But when you really, really have an injury, it’s impossible to win a tournament like this,” he said.
It’s been almost 18 months since then and now Nadal found himself in the same situation as Djokovic’s in Australian Open 2021 but he felt the other way as compared to the Serb and withdrew from the ongoing tournament because he clearly feels that recovering is much more important than winning. It could be the severity that held Rafa from continuing further in the Wimbledon.
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