Tennis: a serious setback for Rafael Nadal

A serious setback for Rafael Nadal before the claycourt season begins: The Grand Slam champion must take a four to six week break. This was announced on Tuesday after investigations. Accordingly, the 35-year-old Spaniard suffered a stress fracture of a rib during his master’s program at Indian Wells.

Rafael Nadal personally came up with the bitter diagnosis “sad” and “sad”: the Grand Slam champion enters the clay season, which is very important to him, with a heavy mortgage. The 35-year-old Spaniard has suffered a stress fracture in one of his ribs and will be out for four to six weeks. Consequently, the preparation of the record winner at the French Open on May 22 was significantly disrupted.

The discovery came as a shock to Nadal. The world number three wrote on Twitter, “This is not good news and I didn’t expect it either. I am depressed and sad because I had a good start to the season.” After the strong results of the spring with the victory at the Australian Open, he was full of optimism. Now he will present his famous fighting spirit before the “very important part of the year”, “be patient and work hard after my recovery.”

After the final at Indian Wells, Nadal was already feeling something was wrong. In 3:6, 6:7 (5:7) against Taylor Fritz, his first defeat of the season after 20 wins, he couldn’t hold back. Then Nadal complained of breathing problems and feeling unwell. “I am really struggling and I must try to solve the problem as quickly as possible,” he said.

But things won’t go very quickly for the 13-time French Open winner. The injury is treacherous and affects an area that comes under pressure with almost every movement. For Nadal, the diagnosis is a real step back in his plan to reclaim the clay-court crown in Paris – from defending champion Novak Djokovic.