RomeRafael Nadal admits that he has to take regular anti-inflammatory drugs to deal with the types of injuries that persist for many years.
“I am not traumatized, I live with trauma”, Spanish newspaper Marca quoted Nadal after lost to Denis Shapovalov in the third round of the Rome Masters on May 12. “If I don’t take anti-inflammatory drugs, I’m just a cripple. No injuries ever come back, because I always have to take medicine. Some of the injuries are chronic. I don’t like playing the victim. I wake up tomorrow morning. Everything would be terrible if I didn’t take the pills. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to exercise.”
Nadal left Rome on May 12 with a reverse defeat to Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 5-7, 2-6. Image: ATP
Nadal almost give up last four games lost to Denis Shapovalov on the evening of 12/5. I relapse foot injury from the middle of the second set, after winning the first set by 6-1. This injury once caused the Spaniard to miss the last four months of last season. Nadal said he needed to re-examine the pain to assess his chances of attending Roland Garros.
For the first time in his career, Nadal attended Roland Garros without winning a championship on the court of his choice. He won Roland Garros on his first appearance in 2005, with five championships on clay, including the Rome Masters. Nadal played erratically last year but still had two cups at the Barcelona Open and the Rome Masters.
Nadal takes a break for the first half of this year’s clay season for treatment concussion love ribs. He then lost in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open and the third round of the Rome Masters. The Spaniard played only five matches on clay, before going to Roland Garros. Former world number one Mats Wilander thinks that this number of matches is too small for Nadal to be ready to conquer his forte Grand Slam. He said: “I doubt Nadal’s ability to compete. Even if he is not injured, this preparation process is very bad for an event as harsh as Roland Garros.”
Nadal peaked in the first three months of the year, with 20 straight wins and three titles, including the Australian Open. Success in Australia made him the first person to set a record of 21 Grand Slams. Things took a turn for the worse when Nadal fractured his rib against Carlos Alcaraz in the BNP Paribas Open semifinals in March. He then tried to play the final against Taylor Fritz and lost two sets.
“I’m sad because I can’t run. At this level, you can’t do anything if you don’t move well,” added Nadal. “Up to this point in my career, I play for fun with tennis. But pain takes away your joy. I’ve lived with a lot of pain, that’s the problem. I’m doing what I love but that brings me many days of unhappiness I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, or two weeks from now I won’t stop believing and fighting to give myself a chance I will make a choice next week, just feet allow”.
Roland Garros starts on May 22 and Nadal is likely to be the fourth seed, after Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.
The evolution of the final set of the match Nadal lost to Shapovalov on May 12.
Vy Anh (according to Marca)
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