Nadal announces that he will not compete in the Australian Open due to an injury

Rafael Nadal announced this Sunday on his X account (formerly Twitter) that he will not play the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, due to an injury. The event will begin on January 14 in Melbourne, but the Spanish tennis player will not be able to participate due to the physical setback he suffered on Friday during the duel in Brisbane against the Australian Jordan Thompson, in the quarterfinals of said tournament. In the third set, when the clock had already exceeded three hours in length – it was finally 3h 25m – the 22-time champion asked to be treated for some discomfort in his groin region, although he was able to finish the match. Nadal lost 5-7, 7-6(6) and 6-3.

“Hello everyone, during my last game in Brisbane I had a small problem with a muscle [el psoas ilíaco, del que se operó en junio] which as you know had me worried. Once I arrived in Melbourne I had the opportunity to have an MRI and I have a micro tear in a muscle, not in the same part where I had the injury and that is good news,” explained the Spaniard through his social networks, to first thing this Sunday. “Right now I am not prepared to compete at the highest level of demand in five-set matches. I return to Spain to see my doctor, receive treatment and rest,” added the Mallorcan, who returned to compete this week after almost a year of hiatus.

Nadal had not played an official match since January 18, when he suffered a rupture of the iliopsoas tendon during the duel with the American Mackenzie McDonald. Although six to eight weeks of sick leave were then predicted, the absence was prolonged and in the end he had to give up the rest of the year, after undergoing surgery in June to undergo surgery on the damaged muscle and also on an old problem that dragged on the hip. After the surgery he immediately began the rehabilitation process and in October he began to hit the first balls, but it was not until a little over a month ago when he really increased the intensity.

Well, inside the bad

In another message on X, Nadal states that his goal is to be at his best level in three months, that is, by the start of the clay court tour. The first event on the calendar is the Monte Carlo Masters, starting on April 6. Later, from May 26 to June 9, Roland Garros will be held, the great objective of the Balearic Islands. “Within the sad news for me of not being able to play in front of the incredible Melbourne crowd, this is not bad news and we all remain positive with the evolution of the season. I really wanted to play here in Australia and I have had the opportunity to play some games that have made me very happy and positive. Thank you all for your support and see you soon! “He added in the message.

On the way to Spain, the tennis player, who will turn 38 on June 3, will be examined upon arrival by his personal doctor, the Cantabrian Ángel Ruiz Cotorro. If his schedule was already open, subject to the evolution of the day, now he will focus more than ever on arriving at the clay season in the best possible conditions. At the moment, Nadal has confirmed his presence in an exhibition in Las Vegas (organized by Netflix) with the Murcian Carlos Alcaraz, on March 3, and his presence was also recently made official at the Open Banc Sabadell in Barcelona, ​​between the 15th and the April, the 21st.

However, everything is up in the air. Nadal does not want to take risks and that is why he has ruled out forcing himself in the slightest to compete in Melbourne. Today the Balearic player moves between two realities: that of his tennis and that of his physique. The three games played in Brisbane offered a hopeful feeling, as he managed to show that he can recover the level of play relatively quickly; He beat Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler with ease, and gave up three match points against Thompson. But, at the same time, this last pulse reflected that his body still does not resist harder commitments and that, logically, it requires a higher running-in phase.

The next quarter will be momentous. In a meeting with this newspaper, in mid-December in Kuwait, the athlete stated that he would arrive at Roland Garros already knowing whether 2024 will be his last year active or not. The two victories achieved in his comeback have allowed him to make a notable leap in the ranking of the ATP, from 672nd to 451st place, but he will be relegated again for not appearing in Melbourne – last year he won a match – and the circumstances are complex. Nadal, he says, accepts them; He knew it was going to be very difficult. He will stop again, but he will return to the charge to say goodbye on the track. Since the double success of 2022, when he conquered Australia and Roland Garros, he has missed four of the seven major tournaments held; In the three that he played he suffered some physical mishap.

With this last one crossed out, there are now 16 that he has lost in his 22-year career in the elite as a result of injury.

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