Q. How bad was the injury? How does this affect your schedule for the rest of the year?
RAFAEL NADAL: I can’t say because I don’t know. Just happened 10 minutes ago and is impossible to know.
Q. When did you feel it? Where exactly is it?
RAFAEL NADAL: As I said before, is difficult to know exactly what it is now. Is difficult to know exactly the muscle. Just happened minutes ago. This type of injury is difficult to know immediately, no?
We need to wait a couple of hours. Tomorrow I am going to do a test, an MRI here, then we will know. But now…
Q. When did you understand you had the problem, what moment? 3-2? 2-1?
RAFAEL NADAL: I am very sorry but I really cannot remember now.
Start to feel the muscle little bit tired in the third, but playing normal, no limits, no limitation. Then in the fourth at one movement, one dropshot I think, I felt something. At that moment I thought something happened, but I didn’t realize how bad, how bad was what’s going on in that moment.
Just happened, and accept the situation. That’s all.
Q. Must be terribly disappointing for you after how hard you worked to be here. The frustration must be tough to accept?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yes. Tough moments. Is not the first time an opportunity that is gone for me. I am a positive person, and I can be positive, but today is an opportunity lost to be in the semifinals of a Grand Slam and fight for an important title for me, no?
In this tournament already happened a couple of times in my life, so it’s really I don’t want to say frustration, but is really tough to accept, especially after a tough December that I had without having a chance to start in Abu Dhabi and then Brisbane.
Yeah, I worked hard to be here. We did all the things that we believed were the right things to do to be ready. I think I was ready. I was playing okay. Yeah, I was playing a match that anything could happen: could win, could lose. I’m being honest. He was playing good, too. That’s the real thing.
But I was fighting for it. I was two sets to one up. Yeah, just accept, recover, come back home, stay with my people, and keep going. That’s all. Always in the tough moments, even if difficult to think about it, there is so many positive things that happened in my career.
It’s a negative thing, but I don’t going to complain because happened to me more than others. But on other hand I was winning more than almost anyone. That’s the real thing. But who knows, if I didn’t have all these injuries…
Q. What do you think he was doing well?
RAFAEL NADAL: Serving well, hitting very strong from the baseline, returning so well. Yeah, he was playing very aggressive. Lot of things.
Q. Is it your thigh or your hip?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know. No hip. No hip.
Q. Your leg?
RAFAEL NADAL: I can’t tell you exactly the muscle. It’s here high.
Q. High on the leg?
RAFAEL NADAL: High on the leg. But I don’t want to lie. Tomorrow we going to communicate what’s going on after the MRI. You know, is not the moment to say what’s going on or what not going on because we really don’t know and the doctor really don’t know yet. Is better to wait just a few hours. Give me that time, and tomorrow afternoon we’ll let you know.
Now is not the moment because anything that we can say not going to be true.
Q. The knee was working well?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, yeah. I was playing 3 hours 50 the other day. Today I was playing over 3 hours. I was running quite well.
Q. Do you have any sense this might not have happened if you’d been able to play a tour level match, had a few shorter matches?
RAFAEL NADAL: Sorry?
Q. If you had played a tour level tournament beforehand where you had a few shorter matches, do you think this may not have happened?
RAFAEL NADAL: If I played the shorter matches here?
Q. If you had played Brisbane, had some shorter matches to build up your fitness.
RAFAEL NADAL: Happened a couple of times here playing tournaments in the past. So not going to be fair saying going to happen or not going to happen.
Maybe if I had the chance to work as hard as I worked last year, maybe will not happen. But was not the case. I had the knee, and I had to go slower, step by step.
We worked as much as we could to be ready. We think we were ready. At least we were in quarterfinals only losing a set. Preparation went quite good. I was playing good tennis. I was fighting for a Grand Slam.
Q. The physio came when you were down 4-1 in the fourth. You called him at the same moment or you asked the umpire to call him before?
RAFAEL NADAL: I called the game before, I think.
Q. Is it something about this surface or the time of year? Is there a reason why you’ve had more injuries here than in other tournaments?
RAFAEL NADAL: No, no, there is no reason. But happened. That’s it.
Is not the right moment to say for me. Somebody who is running the tour should think little bit about what’s going on. Too many people getting injured. I don’t know if they have to think a little bit about the health of the players. Not for now that we are playing, but there is life after tennis. I don’t know if we keep playing in this very, very hard surfaces what’s going to happen in the future with our lives.
He is still the best and a great sports man I have no doubt he will be back.
I HOPE U HAVE A SPEEDY RECOVERY
AND STAY HEALTHY FOR THE REST OF 2018. I KNOW U DID NOT WANT TO STOP BUT I THINK U MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE. WE DONT WANT U TO RETIRE FROM TENNIS YET
ALL THE BEST 💙💙💙💙
It’s a shame Nadal hope and pray that you fin your way back I saw when it happened you didn’t t react to it right away I told my family something went wrong when you ran to hit one of the balls You got very tired too. Guess it’s hard to do what you do that we have loved and not get injured and most of all get tired doing all those beautiful hits!! Take care of yourself stay with tennis please❤️
Get BETTER RAFA…You still #1!!
So sad for u rafa…get well..see you in next tournament…
We love u unconditionally no matter what! Will keep u in my prayers for a speedy recovery ..
From Your Biggest Fan in Florida
He is not going to change his schedule because he is too stubborn for that. I mean why is he still want to play monte carlo and barcelona he won those tournaments 10 times.
I think had he held break of service in the second and not being broken back he would have won that match.
I think he should skip playing the australian open. Melbourne is for him what the french open is for federer bad place of luck. Everytime as a fan you think he can win that tournament something bad happens. The second time he withdrew after 2010 against murray. He lost three finals he should have won (2012, 2014 and 2017). Last year final and 2012 he was up a break in the final set and in 2014 he was the heavily favourite against wawrinka but lost due to back injury.
In 2011 he could have written history by winning 4 majors in a row but lost against ferrer due to abdomnal injury, Everytime something happens so frustrating. Its like strange forces dont want to let him win a second time.
I dont think he can win it ever again. The surface is damaging for his health also i think its not meant to be.
Federer is rubbing his hands right know. I do think he is going to widen the gap and he knows how difficult it will be for rafa to catch up with him. He is so lucky that rafa had so many injuries otherwise he would have surpass him a long time ago.
I feel your pain MJUS. But you know what? Come next year around this time, Rafa will be in the thick of things at the AO yet again.
It may be bad luck for him, sure, but over the past week he’s brought a lot of joy into our lives. It’s sad that he exits the tournament like this today, but we cannot always foresee anything that will happen.
Federer may win the AO this year. Lets start getting that fact wrapped around our heads. Even if Rafa had made the final, Federer may have beaten him yet again:):) So which would hurt more, today’s loss, or a(nother) loss on Sunday against Fed? I’m not so sure I could sit through another Federer procession against Rafa.
Guys, Rafa will be back. He will play the clay swing like he always does. Ans he will win there like he tends to do. Playing on that clay brings him joy, so we can’t take that away from him just because we have our own plans for his career:):)
I think Rafa will have 3 more years of good play in him if he manages his body well. I’ll be satisfied with him winning the FO every year for the next 3 years, and a few (EVERY!!) other tournaments that come his way will be a welcome bonus. Of course it won’t stop me getting my hopes up and wishing he won every tournament he shows up for!!
Too bad about today. I really hope now that Cilic gets past Edmund, and redeems himself against Federer for the letdown at Wimbledon last year.
Rafa will roar back.
Well said Mac , only I would love Edmund to take Cilic out and see him in the final . All said and done Rafa is out so I don’t mind who wins the tournament and if it’s Roger then good luck to him , it doesn’t take anything away from what Rafa has achieved in his career so far.
So do I really gone off Federer. Nadal is still no 1
Yes, indeed.
Thanks Mac, that made me feel a bit better 🙂 Actual 😭😭😭 earlier.. And yeah I was dreading another tea tray for Rafa as well. Would that have hurt more or less than today though? For me, not sure. I hate to think of Rafa being injured and having to give up on his chance and there’s also the matter of the lost points. I don’t know. I just hope Rafa will be OK, that his injury will heal quickly… and let’s just look forward to seeing him play again, asap 🙂
Agree with you. I had same thoughts. Australia open is just Very unlucky place for him.But I know he will keep trying to get a second SLAM there.Not seeing happening, but you never know. He is enjoying clay,so he should play,he has a lot of points to defend there.But Acapulco??? Nope. I think he must skip Wimbledon, it’s so bad for his knees. But I know he will go and try again. His stubbornness is frustrating at time,isn’t it?!.He must be much more smarter with his schedule ( that he can learn from Fed).
Rafa q triste al saber q te lastimaste otra vas. Descansa y te deseo q te recupere pronto. Vamos Rafa tu puedes. Tu fan siempre.
Carmen🙏😂
Heartbroken.
Rest. relax , and hoping for speedy recovery… God bless you, health is more important than anything else😢
Get well soon Rafa you are fighter and we know you will bounce back with 💥 bang on and again win slam.. Good luck Rafa.
Take care of yourself, Rafa! You are the best! 😉
I felt so badly for Rafa but I am certainly not jumping to any conclusions. Unfortunately, he has been down this road before with injuries. Tennis is such a physically demanding sport. Always sad to see Rafa go under any circumstances. He is such a warrior and true champion in every sense of the word.
Rafa, always have comfort in knowing all your fans worldwide love you, appreciate you and wish you a speedy recovery. Get well soon, my hero, as well!
Rafa should have not played the asian swing last year. He should have rested his body after winning the US open. This would have given him enough time to be 100% for this slam. At his age, it should be all about the slams. Rafa made a huge mistake last year and kept on playing and injured himself and he is paying the price for it. He should not be stubborn as he will continue to hurt his body and not be ready for the slams. Just concentrate on the slams and rest your body otherwise he will hurt his chances on winning slams. Health and slams should be more important than being stubborn and injuring your body.
Agree…his stubbornness is frustrating. He must learn from Fed in making a smart schedule of play
𗁄
Get well soon Rafa 😘🍀
Always with you champ🥇🤗
I hope it is not to bad and you get better soon, always support you.
A knee injury halted rafa’s WTF campaign and thank goodness it’s not the same problem that rendered him injured at this slam. Right now the no.1 ranking isn’t important for Rafa. If he’s going to reduce the risk of injury then he needs to drastically reduce his schedule. The French and US Open are the two slams he has the best chance of winning, so he should organise his schedule around them. The problem is that Rafa wants to go full on in everything. As mjus said in her last post, he is stubborn. He is a creature of habit and reluctant to change. Please Rafa. Choose your battles because not every one is worth fighting.
Yeah, a lot of dislikes for Minjus and myself for criticizing Rafa’s scheduling back in September, October, November and December. And voila, here we are again. Rafa arrives in Melbourne unprepared and not match fit. A match fit player goes through a best of five without a problem. Beijing, Shanghai, Paris and WTF were too important apparently and another great opportunity to win the double career grand slam has gone by as a result. His character stands in the way of his success these days.
Yep…his stubbornness is frustrating. He is not flexible. He needs changes and he is not open to them. He must learn from Fed…the smartest player ever (schedule)…even I am die hard Rafa fan,we must admit that.
Since 2009 always the same at the AO. Injuries, Injuries and sad moments.
Get well soon champ. Always with you <3
Rafa deseamos d corazòn tu pronta recuperaciòn…no sabes lo k sufrimos en casa cuando te pasan y vemos estas cosas…te queremos Rafa!!!
Rafa, it broke my heart to see you suffer. Wish you a speedy recovery, my hero!