'It's normal that Rafael Nadal takes a little while to...', says former ace

The ATP has recently made official the decision to unfreeze the world ranking at the end of the tournament in Cincinnati, which was later won by Alexander Zverev. It was the German who immediately benefited from this old innovation, reaching position number 4 in the world rankings, overtaking Rafael Nadal. Could it be the end of an era? Could this be the beginning of a dark age for the many fans of the Spaniard and Roger Federer? The two, in fact, did not come out of the top four of the world rankings since March 20, 2017, when Andy Murray was still leading the ranking, followed by Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori. In fact, the last one left of that particular ranking, which saw Federer and Nadal in sixth and seventh place respectively, is Nole Djokovic. The Serbian is still not satisfied and has no intention of giving up the first position occupied at the moment, despite the increasing pressure of the young recruits chasing him. On the eve of the US Open, still orphans of the "Fedal", with the two rival friends who have already announced the end of their tennis 2021 due to physical problems, chasing the Serb there are Daniil Medvedv, second, Stefanos Tsitsipas, third and, precisely, Alexander Zverev, in fourth place. Looking at the world ranking of March 20, 2017 is even more impressive when seen from the Italian point of view. At the time there were only 3 blues in the top-100: Paolo Lorenzi, 37 in the world, Fabio Fognini, 40 and Andreas Seppi in eightieth position. In a short time, Italian tennis has managed to bring an ever-increasing number of athletes to Olympus who, especially in 2021, never cease to amaze. Today to represent the Bel Paese we find young people with high expectations, but who have already been able to take advantage of the decline of the big 3 Federer-Nadal-Djokovic.

Corretja on Nadal's withdrawal

According to tennis analyst Alex Corretja, Rafael Nadal's withdrawal from major events this year is possibly a sign that his injury is worse than anyone could have anticipated. The two-time French Open finalist said he was "concerned" about the Spaniard's future. "Since he pulled out of Toronto and Cincinnati we were wondering if he was going to be okay for the US Open," Corretja told Eurosport. "But if he is not 100 per cent and able to play and healthy, it's normal that he takes a little while to recover. What is concerning me a little bit is that he pulled out of Wimbledon, the Olympics and now the US Open. That means that maybe the injury is more serious than we expected, and I'm a little bit concerned for the future as well," he added.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3mxDMrd