SAN DIEGO — Rafael Nadal, the 21-time Grand Slam match singles champion, introduced Tuesday that he had a stress fracture in his rib cage and wouldn’t play for “4 to 6 weeks.”
Such accidents will be gradual to heal and tough to deal with. Nadal, 35 and again as much as No. 3 within the ATP Tour rankings after an impressive begin to the season, seems sure to overlook a major chunk of the clay-court season, together with subsequent month’s Monte-Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open.
Nadal is essentially the most profitable clay-court participant in historical past, and 13 of his file 21 main titles have come on the French Open, which begins Could 22.
“This isn’t excellent news, and I didn’t anticipate this,” Nadal stated in Spanish on Tuesday in a social media put up. “I’m downbeat and unhappy as a result of after such an incredible begin to the season, I used to be coming to an important a part of the yr with superb emotions and outcomes. However hey, I’ve all the time had this spirit to battle and to beat and what I’ll do is have endurance and work laborious throughout my restoration.”
Nadal stated he injured the rib throughout his grueling three-set victory on Saturday within the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open over Carlos Alcaraz, his 18-year-old Spanish compatriot. Nadal struggled to breathe with out ache in the course of the latter levels of that match, performed in blustery circumstances in Indian Wells, Calif. He was handled on the court docket however, nonetheless unclear on the severity of his damage, he selected to play in Sunday’s last towards Taylor Fritz of the US.
Fritz, 24, defeated Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (5) to win essentially the most vital title of his profession. Nadal was clearly diminished: serving at slower speeds than typical. He took a medical timeout off court docket after the primary set and was handled on the court docket late within the second, wincing as he lay on his abdomen throughout a changeover and a tour coach labored on him. However Nadal nonetheless got here inside two factors of forcing a decisive third set.
He underwent medical checks upon returning to Spain on Monday and is now again in an all-too-familiar mode: rehabilitating an damage. Nadal has handled accidents all through his exceptional profession and missed many of the second half of the 2021 season due to a power foot situation after dropping to Novak Djokovic within the semifinals of the French Open. He caught the coronavirus in December however recovered shortly and received his first 20 singles matches of the season, together with the Australian Open title.
However it is a new sort of damage for Nadal, one that would recur and, in response to the retired orthopedic surgeon Invoice Mallon, may require longer than 4 to 6 weeks to heal. “You possibly can’t put your rib in a solid,” Mallon stated.
Therapy choices are restricted, although some sufferers use bone stimulator units, which use electrical or ultrasonic impulses to attempt to velocity therapeutic, stated Nicholas DiNubile, an American orthopedic surgeon. Nadal has by no means performed within the French Open with out competing in a preliminary occasion on clay. But it surely may very well be a race towards the clock to compete in early Could within the Madrid Open or Italian Open.
Earlier than saying the damage, Nadal had withdrawn from this week’s Miami Open, a Masters 1000 occasion on a hardcourt. Djokovic, again at No. 1, can even miss it due to the US’ journey ban on unvaccinated foreigners. However Fritz, the rising American star who performed Sunday’s last regardless of a proper ankle damage, is predicted to play.
“With remedy and a late begin, he ought to be good to go,” Paul Annacone, one in all his coaches, stated Tuesday.