Rafael Nadal lost to Denis Shapovalov at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday, but the result is really the least of his worries.
Nadal started strong and looked well on his way to a quarterfinal berth after issuing a breadstick in the first set, but his recurring foot issues became a problem and he stumbled to a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 loss. Shapovalov took down the Spaniard for the second time (previously Montreal 2017) after two hours and 37 minutes.
“I was just trying to change something,” Shapovalov said of breaking serve right away in set two following his rough opening frame of play. “He was completely outplaying me at the beginning of the match. Obviously the first set, the beginning of the second, I was just hanging in there. Definitely really happy to turn it around.
“Obviously I’m a huge fan of his growing up. I watched him play so many times. Growing up, I wanted to play and behave like him. So I definitely super look up to him and hopefully he’s fit for [the French Open].”
With the French Open less than two weeks away, Nadal does not have much recovery time prior to his bid for a 14th trophy at Roland Garros and a 22nd Grand Slam title overall.
“I am living with an injury,” said the 35-year-old, whose foot has been a problem dating back to last year’s quarterfinal loss to Novak Djokovic on the red clay of Paris. “My day by day is difficult. I am trying hard but of course it’s difficult to accept the situation at times. A lot of days I can’t practice the proper way.
“Today it started halfway through the second set and it was unplayable for me. I don’t want to take away (the) credit from Denis that he deserves…. Today is for him.
“I started playing the match much better…so I feel sad [that it got worse]. (There were) a lot of positive things, but when this happens the rest of the positive things disappear. It’s time to accept the situation and fight.”
Despite his ongoing physical issues, Nadal battled to the Australian Open title at the beginning of this season–which completed the double-career Grand Slam. The world No. 4 won his first 20 matches in 2022 before a rib injury contributed to an Indian Wells final loss to Taylor Fritz. Nadal missed the next two months before returning last week in Madrid, where he succumbed to new sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.
Shapovalov advances to face Casper Ruud on Friday in Rome. Djokovic remains a a potential semifinal opponent after the top-ranked Serb eased past Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-2.
not good
Rafans don’t worry ..see the positive ves.
He avoids Alcaraz in the qf
For 4th round, The 9-12 ranked players (Casper ,Hubert hurackz , jannik ) are easier for him than 13-16( Schwartz ,shapo )
The only risk is he can draw djokovic or tsitsipas in qf…
I think he will play RG. He said his doctor will be with him in RG…slams have a day off ..
And rafa is not done yet. One more slam is pending ..i have this belief and feeling since years that Rafa will end with 22 slams…i don’t know where that one pending will come though. If it’s just one more ,i hope it comes at wimby ..but with all this talk of freezing points for wimby this year ,not sure how seriously the tourney will be taken.
Steffi was my fav, rafa is my fav and I have this firm belief since years – rafa will end with same slams as my other fav Steffi ..no logic to this ,it’s just a firm belief
Sanju,
What is this freezing of the points at Wimby? I have nit heard of it. Mona wants him to win another Wimby. But I just don’t know with the foot acting up.
I hope you are right about one more slam. Please God let him go out on a high note!
If Rafa can find a way, he will play at RG. But he has nothing left to prove. At least we had that amazing miracle at the AO. The double career slam is something that I wanted for a long time. He gave us thrills for a few months.
I hope he gets another slam. Then he can say good bye. I hated seeing him in so much pain. It broke my heart.
Maybe grass will be softest on the foot nny.
Atp n wta are talking of not giving any ranking points to wimby this year for their decision to not allow Russian and Belarusian players…even player council is involved ..there may also be a decision that they may freeze points of Russian n Belarusian players n have them carry forward it and let others get the points based on their performance
I feel exactly the same when seeing him in pain. But Rafa is very strong, and if he plays at RG I would give him my full support but I honestly feel that another FO is neither here or there! I want Rafa to win another Wimby to solidify his status as truly great, and him with a certified history of injury, that would be indeed an amazing achievement at his age, and I know he CAN do it. But if he goes deep at FO with the line up that is there it will definitely be too tasking on him, considering the circumstances, to go for at Wimby again, it just won’t happen in my view. Rafa does not have the luxury of time anymore, he needs to pick his battles!!!
Rudd goes on to be Shapo in str8ts!! Sigh!!
So sorry for Rafa. Guess we just have to hope for a miracle at RG now. Not out of the question when it’s Rafa!
he played so well at the start of the year I cant see this being the end of his career.Still got one or two more Slams in him .
What exactly is Rafa’s left food injury? Bone, ligament, tiissue, sore, or what diagnosis?
Rafa has a congenital disease of the foot called Weiss-Muller syndrome. The tarsal scaphoid bone, which acts as a “keystone” of the arch fails to ossify properly during childhood, leaving the bone slightly too large for its place. The blood supply is impacted. It’s painful. In Rafa’s case that bone broke in 2004. It’s not unusual for a tennis player to break a bone in his foot so he rested it, as per doctor’s orders and recovered. It didn’t trouble him again until 2005 during the Madrid final, an indoor 5 set match in October that year. When the break failed to heal this time Rafa consulted additional doctors and after a few months found one in Madrid who was familiar with this rare syndrome. There’s videos up on YouTube about the disease, one from “foot doctor Zach” for instance. It’s incurable. You can have surgery to mitigate the pain, but you lose the ability to run or move the way an athlete needs to. In Rafa’s case the diseased bone is now broken into two parts.
Rafa’s had a lot of trouble with this problem over the years, but it’s gotten a lot worse since the time off he took during the worst of the pandemic. Rest and inactivity does nothing to help prepare it for a resumption of activity. In fact it seems to have been the worst thing possible. Or maybe the problem is simply worse with time.
I see people writing him off forever on Twitter (naturally) but it wasn’t but a second ago he was having the best start to 2022 he’s ever had in his career! This kind of chronic pain can be a mystery. Sometimes it’s unbearable, sometimes you can keep it in the background. What changed between Melbourne and Rome? Small things that can conceivably change back to the better again. We don’t know. He might not either. But if he can play the French without severe pain, we know he’ll try, and he can still work his way into it potentially. He’s not been completely without matches but it sounded from his presser that the more concerning thing is that he hasn’t been able to practice consistently. I hope the foot gives him at least enough peace to shine a little longer.
Ruby,
I really loved your comment. It’s nice to read some of the positivity here.
I especially loved your last sentence. ❤️
Please, please let the foot allow him to more moments.
I posted 2 or 3 days back that I am scared of his foot injury.. and feared he would end his career in RG this year…I sincerely hope it will not be the case. He can take rest and come back again next year or in the fall.. Please hang on Rafa
I think it was in the back of our minds. We knew there was a chance it could act up. I do not want him to end his career at RG this year.
I think as long as Rafa’s doctor can help him manage the pain, Rafa will play at the FO.
I feel that Rafa will have to play in pain (he managed to do that all along) but since Rafa is nearing his career end, he will give his best at the slams wherever and whenever he is playing.
Perhaps, with this ongoing issue, Rafa may finally decide to play a more aggressive and offensive game to shorten points and shorten time on court.
I hope he does that, as I find him being too defensive (against Shapo and Alcaraz) and allowed his opponent to dictate instead of he himself dictating and calling the shot in his matches.
Rafa has the ability to dictate in his matches on clay (like in 2017), it’s a matter of confidence; right now he may not have the confidence but out of necessity, perhaps even do or die situation, with the feeling that his back is against the wall, he may force himself to go out there and dictate play, instead of playing the wait and see more defensive game.
Rafa’s game seemed to be intact, except that when he reached decisive crucial moments, he tend to make errors, more to do with nerve and lack of confidence, I hope he could change that when playing at the FO.
Real shame. Like he said, he is not injured but rather living with an injury!
He’ll play FO but this can flare up any time. Perhaps a month away from the court wasn’t good for him.
He really had bad luck in both years when he won the AO. Both times that he won (the AO), he spent tons of energy just to win there. It affected his clay court season, both times!
AO is clearly not a good place for him, unlike the USO, as after winning the USO, Rafa could just skip some of the other tournaments; anyway, he normally doesn’t win much after the USO. It’s different at the AO, as it is Rafa’s favourite clay court season that comes next.
Perhaps, he should skip the rest of the HC events after the AO, and just prepares to play on clay instead; or maybe switch back to playing the SA clay court swing, just to stay match fit.
Well, I believe he really, deeply wanted to be 4th person to get the Double Career Slam and he’s been so close, so he truly gave everything he had this year seeing the opportunity. That was such an amazing and emotional win, I don’t think he’d trade it back. And then … he’s always loved IW …and he felt good, so why not keep going?
Maybe the cumulative stress on his foot through all the AO and Indian Wells matches did set off this foot inflammation. Or maybe it was the lack of play after the chest injury that stiffened up the foot. Or maybe it was the weather or just something he did during one recent training session! It seems that it comes and goes without any clarity so I’m not sure that there is a way to out-strategize it except to just take advantage of times when it isn’t bothering him (at least not enough to get in his head.)
Yeah, I hope he can manage this troublesome foot throughout the FO. He just need to put less stress on that foot, so maybe cut down on the running, serves better, be more offensive and takes control of points as much as possible.
I also agree that he would want a second AO, even if it means he’s not going to win another FO.
Ricky ,Lucky ..do 5,6 and 7,8 get placed in different halfs in slams or 5-8 treated as one and can go anywhere. Both 5,6 in one half and 7,8 in another
If I’m not wrong, 5 to 8 are drawn randomly into the four quarters. So, 5 to 8 can be drawn to face any of 1 – 4 in the quarters.
Is Meddy playing at the FO? If he’s not playing then Rafa will be seeded 4th. If Meddy is, then Rafa will be seeded 5th and so could face any of the top four seeds in the QF but will not meet Alcaraz in the QF, maybe in the SF should they get that far.
Yes meddy is playing
My wish ..Djokovic,Alcaraz, stef all go the other side 🙂 maybe asking too much
No, it makes perfect sense. Better to have all of them them on the other side, than to have Rafa losing too early… no?
It’s not the first 3 months that made him succumb, it’s the 6 week break that did it. It’s all down to the horrible IW semi scheduling ..he used to always play first yet his semi was made second and allowed to continue in rough winds
Yes, the 6 week break after IW, due to the rib injury, is what screwed up his foot again imo.
I watched Rafa’s Rome exit presser on YouTube today. He’s determined to play RG still. He will do what he can to prepare “properly” as he says. He said his doctor (Ruiz-Cotorro) will be at RG and he’s hopeful that he can help. Said he didn’t retire from the match in order to give Shapo the win, that he deserved it after some tough losses to Rafa in Rome last year and AO this year. Incredibly generous man! One of the many, many things I really admire about Rafa is that he does not require people to be “perfect”. He’s fine with flaws as long as they aren’t actively malicious or “evil”.
Sorry about Rafa darlings, hope he can recover in time for RG.
There’s always some excuse.
I’m celebrating Shapo’s win. That could be a career-defining win for him.
Not good….GREAT! Well done Shapo; you just as deserving of victory as Nadal in any match that is played. the bias in this forum is nauseating.
Hello, our old “friend” ANONYMOUS. This is so NOT CHERYL.
Wow, Shapo played great and just would not go away. Congrats to him!
Makes sense, though. Shapo is entering his prime and Nadal is exiting his. Forget the foot story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt0Wdm6uEpo
So lot of monickers were stolen and posted mostly denigrating rafa . Someone is so jobless in life lol,atleast have a f#₹_&- brain when you write ..ppl here know everyone’s style ..if u want to copy ,atleast post the same way the person writes usually
No one ever said trolls were smart!
🙂
No one ever said that NNY was smart either…
When you know the age is becoming a factor and the competition is starting to heat up, use injuries as an exit excuse. Perfect!
Don’t you have somewhere you have to be? Oh, no, I guess no one actually wants you around….
It’s amazing how ppl r so happy to write Rafa off as injury prone but when he actually gets an injury, all of a sudden it’s an excuse!! Sigh!!
He is injury prone. So often plays while injured or recovering from, or simply tired late season .
But its not fair on players who beat him for that to be always brought up as the reason why he lost.
Who brought that up? It’s the media, the journalists! So, why not you tell them not to ask him about his injuries? He would not say anything if he’s not asked about injuries!
And, it’s always his detractors who used his injuries to criticize him when he lost, his fans and supporters were more worried than anything else, about him and his injuries! I don’t think his fans here used his injuries as excuses for his losses, more like worrying about his game, his mindset when he lost to Alcaraz, and the way he played against Shapo.
You will never know; even Nadal might not know if he is being 100% honest with himself.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I think about it logically with how the world works.
At some point, Nadal is going to retire and will need an exit strategy? When he’s losing to the younger players regularly, will he just say ‘It’s time for me to retire, I can’t compete at this level any longer against the younger players’, or will he say ‘I can’t enjoy the game any longer with my injuries’.
Nadal will likely use the latter excuse because there’s a public expectation that Nadal can overcome all adversities. That’s his public image and where he makes his money.
So, at the end of the day, this is a business now and into the future, and he has to manage his PR in consideration of that.
So what do you think will be the reason(s) or excuse(s) that Fed and Djoko will give when they decide to retire? Can’t win anymore, loses interest, or not motivated anymore?
I’ll say that for Rafa, he’ll retire when he feels he couldn’t improve anymore and has reached his maximum capacity. He will compete till his doctor tells him he will become crippled if he continues to do so!
I think there’s a slightly different perception of Fed than Nadal. When Fed decides to retire it will happen smoothly like nothing has really happened because he will play semi-exhibition for the remainder of his career and continue to be involved in the sport. Any good results will just be icing on the cake.
I don’t think Djokovic will make excuses, either. He’ll slowly edge towards retirement as the results worsen over time. I expect this to be a slow process, however. He generates a lot of easy power and should be able to improve his efficiency, so he can continue to compete at a high level.
Nadal is different; his target market expects him to be invincible.
Target market? Are you serious? He’s already nearing the end of his tennis career, and you’re here talking about his target market?
He is no green horn, has already won whatever he can win, and gets his endorsements for years, he isn’t going to open up new markets for himself! He’s already a well established tennis great, and here you are talking as if he needs to prove himself, what a joke!
If you’re talking about Alcaraz here, then maybe ‘target market’ is more relevant!
Are you here just to irritate the Rafa fans?; your views, I’m sorry, don’t make sense and are bias against Rafa.
Michael Jordan tops richest athlete list years after retirement
https://www.foxbusiness.com/sports/michael-jordan-richest-athlete-list
So? You expect Rafa to be like Michael Jordan?
You think Rafa would market his RN brand, something like Fed does with his RF brand?
Rafa has his own tennis academy, and he’s doing well and opening branches at various locations. You think if he retires due to injuries, that his tennis academy would be affected?
You think what he has done in tennis, his achievements etc won’t count for a thing just because he retired due to injuries?
Rafa also has other business ventures, like his Tatel Restaurant, a partnership with Paul Gasol and C Ronaldo. He will be doing fine after he retires from tennis.
approved
As for him being too tired during late season, well that’s not an excuse, it’s more a reason for him not doing well, just like many other players too. Why do you think some of those top players who fought so hard to qualify for the WTF, yet when they’re there, they’re almost like half dead and lost their matches by playing poorly?
Who among the active players played full five clay events from MC to RG and playing on the final Sundays most of the time? And throughout his career of 17+ or 18+ years?
Fed and Djoko didn’t, and they didn’t make it to all finals on clay most of the time, and they’re the two best players on the HCs for a long time, so they’re able to last till the WTFs and won them many times, whilst others stumbled along the way.
I don’t think Nadal losing because he’s being tired at WTF, it’s basically his fans trying to defend for his loss though Nadal himself don’t use that as an excuse.
He playing too many clay court tournaments which happens in the month of May/June is not going to impact his performance in WTF which happens in late November. This is not just now even when he was young he couldn’t perform well there and I feel it’s to do with the surface rather than losing energy at the end of the season.
Fed and Djoko plays lot many tournaments after clay court and they go deep in almost all tournament and yet they seem fit and healthy for WTF. It’s not that they skip the clay tournament for hard court and if you see young Federer he use to play 4 clay court tournaments compared to Nadal’s 5 and he too was reaching finals and losing to Nadal but the number of matches both of them play are same. Infact I would say Fed play more number of points compared to Nadal in clay court as his matches in clay would not be one sided and he has to win the matches by playing tie breakers or 63 64 sets where as Nadal’s match would be either a breadstick or 62 which is much easier. It’s just that Nadal’s defence and bounce in the surface are not effective for his style of play. Just move the tournament from indoor to clay and you will see him running like a rabbit as if he is resting for months for this tournament just like French open.
You expect Rafa to run around like a rabbit at end of the season??
You mentioned that Fed played more points on clay, but you forget that Fed had his good serve to help him win points even on clay.
Rafa doesn’t have a good serve like Fed’s, hence he has to go into rallies, so longer points are played before he wins them. You have to look at time spent on court, not the number of points played!
You mentioned that Fed also reached many finals on clay, but for how many years? It’s only from 2006 to 2008; from 2009 he started to skip some clay court events.
Fed also skipped some events during the season in order to do well at the WTF. I would say Fed was good at pacing himself to last a whole season; in 2005 for example, he played in only 15 events, 85 matches, Rafa played 89 matches but Rafa spent more time on court, especially when he played many clay court events that year.
As I said, Fed (and Djoko) are the two best players on the HCs; Fed in particular has a great serve to help him win easy points, thus he need not spend too much time on court in his matches.
The low bounce/high bounce thing, well, it’s not like Rafa is hopeless on low bouncing surfaces, it’s just that he has to face players who are better than him on those surfaces most of the time, namely Fed and Djoko.
I would still expect Nadal might have won around 5+ WTF had this tournament being played on clay with rest of every parameters same. If you agree to this then don’t you think if Fed/Djoko fans makes an excuse and claims that they were very tired because right from the Halle till Paris masters they have played many matches and Nadal was smart to skip few tournaments after US Open and that’s the reason Nadal won as their star was tired and couldn’t perform to their potential. In fact Nadal fans would laugh at this and claims Nadal is simply better than others and they don’t stand a chance against him. I don’t have any problem with this but for the reverse which is not even a hypothetical scenario why to bring excuses and just agree that others are better than him on hard courts and nothing else. Even if you keep this tournament at beginning of the year still the result will remain same. I know Nadal is not hopeless on indoors, he has reached finals twice but in those 2 years 2010 and 2013 he had excellent year and won US Open as well. May be a better argument could be in those 2 years he played more matches than he usually plays after french open and may be he was tired but other years he actually didn’t play many tournaments yet he lost early.
The problem with WTF is even a player like Roddick/Tsonga/Berdych can trouble Nadal where as they will be hopeless against him on clay despite their rankings
I would say Rafa lost mainly to Fed and Djoko at the WTF (he might have lost a match or two at the RR stage, which wasn’t shocking since Fed and Djoko also lost a RR match sometimes).
Whether the WTF is/was played at YE or during the year, Fed and Djoko would still be there to stop him from winning but he might win a few more matches against them than what he had now.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, Rafa lost in QFs or after at indoor HC events (Paris and Madrid ) to fellow top ten players, it’s not like he’s hopeless at indoor HC events. He also had retired during a match, or withdrawn from the event after winning a match, at Paris Masters, an indication that he’s not well physically.
Well after RG last year the whole focus was on stories of injury during the final which affected the result.It took the shine off Novax achievement.
That was to lucky at 11.08
What’s the difference, whether it’s mental or physical issues, Rafa did lose at the FO! He’s not supposed to get injured?
Rafa has already beaten Djoko several times at the FO, isn’t that good enough proof that Rafa > Djoko at the FO?
Rafa after his loss at the FO had to skip Wimbledon because of injury, so that’s proof he wasn’t well physically at the FO.
Rafa can afford to lose to Djoko; he did lose to Djoko in 2015 when he’s not injured; he went on to play at Stuggart and then Wimbledon after that.
Well 2015 Rafa was in a slump more mental than anything else.
The discussion was more about how physical factors such as injuries contributed to Rafas losses and it’s always there or thereabouts.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/tennis/rafael-nadal-suffered-career-first-with-rome-exit-that-won-t-help-his-french-open-chances/ar-AAXfZ8n?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f7cc4eac308b449a97a45752485314bf
Its the Daily Express so I wouldnt put too much credibility on it
Djoko saying he is one of the favs at rg n is looking forward to great things .he said the same last year
I actually feel that if Rafa could manage his foot problem well enough, he should be able to compete well at the FO despite playing only five competitive matches before the FO.
He had played five matches in nine days, about 13+ hours on court. He wasn’t playing badly except that at crucial moments he tend to be overcome by nerve and doubts.
He lost his two matches to very aggressive players Alcaraz and Shapo, and it’s not that he wasn’t competitive against them. In BO5 matches, he would have enough time to calm himself and also figure out alternative tactics and game plans to counter whatever his opponents throw at him.
The key is not to spend too much time on court in each match, hence I still think that he has to be more aggressive or offensive in his approach in each of his matches.
I don’t know what his doctor could do to his troubled foot, maybe numb it before his matches, or whatever? I just hope that he won’t be hindered by it as it will be a pity that after doing so well on the HCs, he has to suffer on the clay courts due to injuries or ongoing ailment of his foot.