Rafael Nadal’s latest comeback–this one from a hip injury sustained in the Australian Open quarterfinals–is on hold. Nadal withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open on Friday, saying that he suffered a setback with his hip issue while practicing in Acapulco. The second-ranked Spaniard was the top seed at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel this week but pulled out prior to a scheduled first-round contest against countryman Feliciano Lopez.
“I won’t be able to play in Miami or Indian Wells, as I need to recover,” Nadal lamented. “It was very painful to retire from Acapulco and it’s very hard as well to not play in the USA. Unfortunately, the injury I suffered in Acapulco before starting the tournament is in the same area as the one suffered in Melbourne…. I will miss you and I will do everything that’s possible to be back [in Indian Wells and Miami] in 2019.”
“We are disappointed that Rafa will not be able to compete for the title at this year’s BNP Paribas Open,” tournament director Tommy Haas stated. “We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in action at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden next year.”
David Goffin joined Nadal on the Indian Wells withdraw list, as his freak eye injury suffered last month in the Rotterdam semifinals has not yet healed. Goffin, who had a ball deflect off his racket into his right eye while leading Grigor Dimitrov one set to love, hopes to be ready for Miami.
The seventh-ranked Belgian posted the following on Twitter: “After these last few days of practice, I have to admit that I haven’t [recovered] my vision totally. I still need a couple of days to be able to play at 100%. Unfortunately I won’t be able to play in Indian Wells this year and I will most likely be back in Miami if the situation evolves favorably. Therefore, I will have to go back to Europe after the Miami Open to check the condition of my eye so I won’t be able to play the next Davis Cup tie against USA. Then I hope to continue the rest of my season [serenely]. I wish all the very best to the Belgian team!”
Stan Wawrinka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet are other recent withdrawals from the Indian Wells Masters, while three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray remains sidelined by his lingering hip injury.
get well soon
What bad luck for Goffin. It’s probably not the kind of injury that anyone has a good idea about how long it takes to recover. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it happening to a pro, though it must have before.
Silent protests are everywhere.
#Rogerball
#THASP
Goffin’s a really unlucky player
Are Sock and Querrey playing at IW? How come when they’re ranked above Djoko, they’re not being listed at the ATP website under ‘who’s playing’ whilst Djoko was listed?
So Djoko is playing I supposed, I thought he’s coming back at Madrid but maybe he’s thinking of taking advantage of the weakened field to work his way back to form?
ATP site uses both ranking and popularity of a player. Like if Murray entered a tourney in a few months and was really low ranked or something then they would still likely include him somewhere on that list.
luckystar AT 8:35 AM.
The IW entry list (in alphabetical order):
https://bnpparibasopen.com/players/2018-players/
Ok thanks Augusta; so Djoko is confirmed for IW (I think for Miami too).
luckystar AT 11:51 AM,
Djoko has practiced with Agassi in Las Vegas Valley, but his fans say that it’s not sure yet if he will play at IW.
I’ll be surprised if Novak plays. He just started practicing a little while ago.
Wawrinka out.
#WeakEraParlayCYGS
#THASP
18 of the Top 20 in the Race to London have never won a slam. Cilic at No. 2 in the world managed one in 2014.
17 of the Top 20 ranked players in the world entering IW/Miami in the world have never won a slam. Del Potro won one nine years ago.
#WeakEra2.0
#THASP
So according to you, rest all should go home and tennis shouldn’t be played unless everyone comes back healthy. Even after they return the condition should be they should be able to defeat Fed otherwise they are not in form and the entire nation should wait for some more time.
By chance if they return and able to defeat then the actual tennis starts. If the ATP starts following your logic then 90 percent of the time there won’t be any tournament played.
Just the usual excuses/denigrating in advance, BP, in case Federer should win. There never was a weak era, as I’ve showed on the Fed page. Rafa’s overall ELO is very inflated by his dominance on clay, and on HC he was not really close to prime “weak-era” Fed:
Federer peak HC ELO: 2702 (March 7, 2007)
Nadal’s peak HC ELO: 2588 (Sept. 30, 2013)
The only person who was close (very slightly better, in fact) was Djojovic:
Djojovic peak HC ELO: 2706 (Feb 1, 2016).
That was just after he had beaten Fed for the fourth straight time in a slam, but also when Nadal was nowhere to be seen.
In between (2010-13), when Federer was starting to decline, before he adopted the larger racquet, the peak ELOs for Novak and Rafa on HC were lower.
So if anything we should say: on HC and grass (3/4 of the tennis season), the strong eras have been when Federer was at or near his best (2004-07 and 2014-18), and the weak era was in between, when Fed was starting to decline and before he adopted the larger racquet.
…said the misogynist who neglected to even think to mention Serena Williams instead comparing pederer to a male cricket player for the GOAT of all sport.
Jeff Sackmann’s ELO piece lays out quite clearly that pederer isn’t the defacto GOAT and bill smith lays out that its lack of competition since 2017 that’s been the main reason for pederers recent success.
(Honourable mention to second best player for that strawman argument. Almost Joe Smith worthy. Should change his name to SecondBestStrawman.)
Bestplayer you are funny, nice comment.
Hawktard has gone coco loco 😂🤣👍, the guy is coocoo, he has lost it 😋😂🤣.
You have to understand his elevator spoiled so it doesn’t reach the top floor 😂😉🤣, please be patient with him.
pale trump loving stanley.
2ndBP, JS and white stanley.
Three peas in a pod.
Thanks Stanley. Hawkeye will take a deep breath when Fed retires but till that happens hawkeye is having sleepless nights and keep repeating the same weak era arguments which is subjective and everyone can showcase the arguments which favours them.