Nadal, a race based on blood, sweat and tears

The injury suffered against Mackenzie McDonald in the second round of the Australian Open adds to a long list of physical mishaps in the career of Rafa Nadal, who on many occasions has been weighed down and unable to compete with full powers. This time the trigger for the injury has been the hip, from which he has already suffered in the past, but Nadal’s ordeal since he began his career in professional tennis has punished him with serious problems in the knee, foot, abdomen, shoulder , elbow and wrist.

«I have noticed something in the hip and it is over. I can’t say I’m not devastated because I’d be lying. I’m tired of this injury thing all the time. It is very hard on a mental level to go through the process and the work that is needed for recovery again, “said Nadal this Tuesday, after this latest hip injury.

The balance is shocking. With this sum, he already has 23 injuries in 19 years of professional career, with an average of more than one serious injury per course. Despite being the player with the most Grand Slams in history, Nadal has been absent in twelve of them, and in another thirteen he played diminished, even retiring in four of those tournaments.

Compared to his rival for the tennis throne, Novak Djokovic, the Spaniard has missed more Grand Slam tournaments, but the Serb has withdrawn more in tournaments already started, up to two more than Nadal. The Serb, who has had a more benevolent career with injuries, came to play 51 Grand Slams in a row, from 2005 to 2017, something unthinkable for the Spaniard.

Next, we review the most important injuries that Nadal has suffered during his career and that have deprived him of reaping more triumphs than he has to his credit:

Müller-Weiss syndrome in the left foot (2005)

The best year of Nadal’s career, in which he won up to 11 titles, had an unpleasant end. After winning in Madrid diminished by tendinitis, the Spaniard was out for more than four months after being diagnosed with Müller-Weiss syndrome in his left foot, a degenerative disease of the scaphoid that has plagued him throughout his career until today. He missed the Paris Master 1000, the Masters Cup and the Australian Open the following season.

The knees begin to give war (2009)

That season, Nadal suffered one of his biggest setbacks, the Roland Garros final against Robin Soderling, which was his first defeat on Parisian clay and with which he lost number one in the ranking. After this blow came another in the form of tendonitis in the knee, one of his constant headaches during his career, which kept him off the slopes for almost three months, being absent from summer tournaments and Wimbledon.

Left patellar tendon rupture and hoffitis (2012)

The most serious injury in Nadal’s career came in 2012, after losing in the second round of Wimbledon to Lukas Rosol. He ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee and a hoffitis in it, which kept him off the slopes for seven months. He did not play in the London Olympics, nor in the tournaments in Canada, Cincinnati, US Open, Shanghai, Paris, the Masters Cup and the Australian Open in 2013. “Maybe stopping now will help me extend my career,” explained his own Nadal that same year after his knee injury.

The Damn Doll (2016)

Nadal announced by surprise that he was withdrawing from Roland Garros before playing the third round of the tournament, due to a wrist injury that has kept him in the dry dock for three months: “I know I can’t finish the tournament. It is part of life and I hope to return to Roland Garros for many more years. Today is one of the toughest press conferences of my career, having to leave the most important tournament of my professional career. He couldn’t play the Wimbledon tournament either. Nadal forced in the Olympic Games, but gave up the Masters 1000 in Paris and the Masters Cup.

Iliopsoas injury, tendinitis and abdominal rupture (2018)

After a 2017 with hardly any physical shocks, Nadal suffered a potpourri of mishaps in 2018. In the quarterfinals of the Australian Open against Marin Cilic, he was forced to withdraw due to an iliopsoas injury, which kept him away from the courts for two and a half months.

He also withdrew in the semifinals of the US Open against Juan Martin Del Potro, suffering from a new tendinitis in his left knee, which kept him out for another two months, during which he missed the Asian tour. Finally, an abdominal tear in the last stretch of the season made it impossible for him to play the Masters 1000 in Paris and the Masters Cup.

Rib fissure and abdominal rupture (2021-2022)

These last two seasons of Nadal have been titanic. “I am not injured, I live with an injury”, were the statements of the Spaniard after falling in the Masters 1000 in Rome against Denis Shapovalov. He has played in constant pain and has suffered as many as three serious injuries. And yet, he has won two Grand Slams. The degenerative lesion in his scaphoid appeared again at the end of 2021. He was out for four months and could not play Wimbledon or the US Open, and he arrived at the Australian Open between cotton wool.

In the Indian Wells tournament, Nadal suffered a third costal arch fissure, forcing him to stop for a few weeks. He fell in Rome suffering from the scaphoid again, and with his presence at Roland Garros in serious doubt, although he managed to arrive, not without pain, to lift his twenty-second Grand Slam. Finally, he withdrew in the Wimbledon semifinals before facing Nick Kyrgios, after suffering a seven-millimeter tear in the abdomen.

«This situation for me loses meaning. First the foot started, which seemed to be doing better. Now it is controlled and lets me enjoy playing tennis. And now this, with which I put my immediate future and my long-term future at risk, and I don’t want to take risks, “concluded Nadal, who despite being one step away from another final of a great, was forced to retire again