Will Rafael Nadal play it safe and reduce his tournaments next season?
"It was very difficult for me to say goodbye before the match was finished...I hate to retire but to stay one more set would be too much for me", Rafael Nadal confessed at the press conference of the 2018 U.S. Open. He had to retire to Juan Martin del Potro at the semifinal round with an unbearable pain in his right knee. There was a medical timeout but as he went back to hit a few on court he was in total agony and found it impossible to continue playing.
Nadal has had ailments and injuries occasionally through the season and at the Open was the last time he had been seen on the court to perform. It was a tough year where he had earned many titles and enjoyed a period of time pain-free performances. He had captured the Barcelona and the Rogers Cup titles from the NextGen Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets and had battled but lost to Novak Djokovic at the Wimbledon semifinals in five sets. The Paris grand slam, the French Open he won his 11th title defeating Dominic Thiem in three sets. He had found his game very consistent and won over Japan's Kei Nishikori in straight sets to capture the Monte Carlo Masters.
Every player wants to make a good beginning appearance but it wasn't to be for the 'King of Clay' as Nadal would experience his first retirement of the season giving the quarterfinal match up to Marin Cilic in the 5th set. He had a leg injury this time and during the press conference a media personnel asked: "How bad was the injury and how does this affect your schedule for the rest of the year?" Rafa's answer was "I can't say because I don't know...It just happened minutes ago and this type of injury is difficult to know immediately". This was such a down moment for him coming at the beginning of the tour that everyone couldn't imagine how the season would play out by the end. Rafa had no more answers but to say "I will just recover, come back home, stay with my people and keep going..."
Many are wondering if Rafa has begun to spread himself too thin with multi tournaments that has gone past the average three set minimum. He's captured 5 titles this year and if healthier who's to say if there would be more. He had commented saying that "I have to just enjoy the moments when I had the chance to play with healthy conditions..." And yet, he doesn't want to push himself that he'll be injured and not be able to return on tour. Eliminating many tournaments may be the route to go in preserving his body for the major events, but he admits confidently that "I'm going to keep going...everybody says because of my style I will have a short career. I'm still here because I love what I'm doing. I still have the passion for the game and I'm gonna keep fighting".
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2zRspAW
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