In March, Rafael Nadal lost his first match of the year at the Indian Wells Masters final. The Spaniard went down in two straight sets against the American player Taylor Fritz by-3-6 and 6-7. Nadal was spotted experiencing physical difficulties during the final match, which wasn’t clear back then.
However, Rafael tweeted the reason for the struggle the very next day. The World No.4 suffered from a stress fracture in his rib area which led him to rest out of the game for at least four to six weeks. This unexpected injury has led him to withdraw from the upcoming Barcelona Open that is scheduled to begin on April 17th.
Hola todos, quería anunciaros que he vuelto a España y fui enseguida a visitar a mi equipo médico para hacerme las pruebas tras la final de Indian Wells que jugué con molestias.
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) March 22, 2022
Rafael Nadal’s return to the court is still uncertain
The 35-year-old had a brilliant winning streak since the first major tennis tournament of the year. Nadal won the Australian Open after 17 years, in the month of January. The Spaniard also won the Mexican Open title that followed in the next month. Nadal broke his winning streak at the Indian Wells Masters tournament when he lost the final match. His persistent chest pain while he played the match contributed to this loss against Taylor Fritz.
In a recent interview, Rafael Nadal’s team spoke about the Spaniard’s awaited return to competitive tennis. The team announced- “Rafa has just been withdrawn from the entry list in Barcelona. We don’t know yet when he will be at his first tournament on clay this year. Hopefully, soon.”
Nadal had won the Barcelona Open last year and could have defended his title under normal circumstances. Moreover, Rafael has the record of winning the ATP 500 title twelve times, most of them consecutively too. The Spaniard has clinched the title back-to-back from 2005 to 2013 except in 2010. In the years that followed too, Nadal won the Barcelona Open from 2016 to 2021 excluding 2019 and 2020.
Having missed the Miami Open and Monte Carlo Masters already, Barcelona Open will be the third tournament in a row that Rafael Nadal will be skipping.
However, fans will be eager to know if the Spaniard will be participating in the forthcoming major tournaments like the Madrid Open and the Roland Garros French Open among others.