His new injury is as alarming as the state of mind with which Rafael Nadal ends his participation in the 2023 Australian Open. The 36-year-old Spanish tennis player once again suffered a physical problem that influenced his defeat in the first round to a certain extent of the tournament at the hands of American Mackenzie McDonald.
Minutes after his defeat, Nadal appeared at a press conference with a very sad face, knowing how hard it will be to go through another injury at this point in his career. “I’ve had a hip problem for years and in the last three days I’ve had more pain, but I wasn’t limiting myself when it came to playing.
We have to wait, do more tests and see how far the issue goes”, commented the Spaniard. “I am not a pessimist or an optimist, right now I am cautious, we have to wait and see what the doctors say. There is no other option than to accept things as they come, I have never done crazy things for wanting to return early.
Hopefully it won’t be long, I’m just asking for that,” he added. Regarding the difficulty that another injury will have, he indicated: “There are already many injuries and the glass is filling up, I am tired. It hurts like always, but it hurt more in the Wimbledon semis, there I was prepared to win the tournament.
The reality is that in the last three Grand Slams I have suffered injuries. At the moment the public fired him with a big applause at the Rod Laver Arena, and it was not for less. Do you see any chance that this could have been the last match of Rafael Nadal’s career?
Rafael Nadal sustained an injury
Rafael Nadal sustained an injury during the second set of his Round 2 loss to Mackenzie McDonald.
“It have been a couple of days like this, but nothing like today in that movement. I don’t know. We’re gonna start talking about that now, but I don’t know what’s going on, if it’s muscle, if it’s joint,” he said. “I have history in the hip that I had issues.
I had to do treatments in the past, address a little. Was not this amount of problem. Now I feel I cannot move,” Rafael Nadal said. “That’s the sport at the same time. Just try your best till the end. Doesn’t matter the chances that you have.
That’s the philosophy of the sport. That’s the essence of the sport by itself. I tried to follow that during all my tennis career, and I tried of course to not increase the damage, because I didn’t know what’s going on,” he added.
