Rafael Nadal’s announcement to stop competing and his intention to retire in 2024 was triggered by difficulties recovering from the iliopsoas injury to his left leg at the Australian Open, but has carried as much or more weight into the problems of the past few months. Was. Their pains were not only physical, they also hit their heads and undermined an illusion that is crumbling after two years of ups and downs ever since they left behind in the year of the coronavirus pandemic.
«It has been many years that the results have been of the first level, but the day-to-day has been of a very low level. Facing the outdoors, the good moments remain, but since the pandemic the daily work has been difficult and chain injuries have made it difficult for me to maintain consistency. When someone is not able to be a part of their life with happiness, then it goes on a personal level. “Important victories hide it, but you have to put one point and another aside,” Rafael Nadal said at the proposed press conference on Thursday.
Nadal has suffered 20 injuries throughout his career and has suffered a third of them ie seven from 2021 till date. In 2020, when COVID disrupted everything, the Mallorcan admitted it was difficult for him to “have the excitement to get out of bed”, but he was able to win the most unusual Roland Garros in history when it was held in October , Hardly any spectators in the stands. Shortly afterwards problems started with a back injury and after two months without playing, he went on to play the Australian Open, losing in the quarterfinals to Tsitsipas.
He won in Barcelona and Rome and appeared as the favorite in Paris, but lost to Djokovic in the semi-finals. She had given everything at Roland Garros to try to clinch the crown, but her left foot had given her countless warnings. He spent “two weeks without being able to walk” and admitted that he raced when it was time to return to the circuit in Washington. “The two months of training before that were terrible,” he explained, before opening brackets in his calendar that he would not present new appointments until 2022. Work on that leg speed” during a 2021 season in which he won two titles and played 24 of 29 games, before finally being sidelined for nearly half a year until his triumphant return in 2022.
Against all odds, he won his first tournament in Melbourne and established himself as the greatest player in history by winning the 2022 Australian Open. Nadal passed through Cyclone Acapulco, where he made another breakthrough, and was preparing to destroy Indian Wells until he cracked a rib in the semi-finals against Carlos Alcaraz. Injury kept him out of Monte Carlo and Barcelona and his results in Madrid and Rome were a far cry from his aspirations until he was ready to claim his crown at Roland Garros.
In Paris, the scaphoid in his left leg was once again a daily nightmare. On an infighting basis, he was dealing with this problem until he won his fourteenth Musketeers Cup. Before long he had already issued several messages over the microphone, indicating that this was before his last appearance on French soil. The day after his triumph, he went lame again and underwent a new treatment to enjoy himself on the track and further his career.
Nadal, who overcame his foot with new medical guidelines, shone again on the grass of Wimbledon, but then another physical problem kept him away from the title bid. He missed the semifinal against Kyrgios due to an abdominal injury. He returned in Cincinnati falling in the first exchange and lost to Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16 at the US Open. He opened a gap of two months to recover till the end of the course and to live his fatherhood experience with María Francisca Perello. He lost in the first round of Paris-Bercy against Tommy Paul and lost to Aliassime and Fritz in the ATP Finals, in which he would close the course with a modest win against Casper Ruud, leading to 4 titles in 47 games and 39 wins. The balance of victory will remain. , In a year he had won two majors and as he himself said on Thursday “results hide everything”, between one thing and another, after missing four months of the season.
A return to the slope in 2023 could not have been worse, as he had to withdraw from his match in the second round of the Australian Open. An iliopsoas injury was to blame. “I am mentally devastated,” he admitted after a new setback, which has, moreover, extended into the announcement of an indefinite hiatus and the end date of his career. If he returns for the Davis Cup finals, he will be out of action for five months and will move up to the playing eleven.
