A few days ago, a video surfaced on the internet, which showed the 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal feeling some pain and slowly walking back during one of his practice sessions at Rafa Nadal’s Academy. It is still unclear when the video was shot. Although, as per reports, it was shot this week. That viral video has led to more speculations about whether Nadal would recover from his persistent hip injury in time to play the upcoming French Open.
It would be an unprecedented event if Nadal decides to withdraw from the event. The first time the tennis legend participated in the main draw of Roland Garros was in 2005, and that year itself he hoisted the trophy by defeating Mariano Puerta. Since then, he has had numerous injury problems. Even at Roland Garros, Nadal has had his injury woes: knee tendinitis in 2009 and he withdrew from his third round match against Marcel Granollers in 2016 due to a wrist injury. However, Nadal has entered the main draw of Roland Garros every single time since 2005.
2005! It was a different world. Nadal was then just 18, running around tennis courts like a jackrabbit and with a bandana on his forehead. In the aforementioned final against Puerta, he was down three set points in the fourth set. He saved one of them with his trademark retrieving skills – cross-court forehand on the run, followed by the cross-court backhand to provide the finishing touches. He saved the next with a lunging forehand volley as a counter to a drop shot. Puerta then made an unforced error.
After the match, Puerta shared his thoughts on that rally, which involved a drop shot and volley, “I wonder how he was able to get that ball?” A few weeks before the French Open final, Guillermo Coria perhaps would have had similar thoughts as Nadal made a redoubtable comeback from 0-3 down in the fifth set to win the Rome Masters in over five hours. There were a couple of rallies in particular that would be saved in the caverns of the memory bank for decades together. With Coria facing the match point in the final set, he seemed to have hit a clean winner with a down the line forehand shot. Just that Nadal somehow ensured the rally would extend a while longer with a defensive lob.
The final photo frame of that shot shows Nadal’s head facing the advertising boards. How can one get the ball back in play from that position? Perhaps it was some sixth sense, which helped him to have a bit of ‘feel’ for court dimensions. Whatever it was, he ultimately forced Coria to make an unforced error on his backhand volley to win a cliffhanger. Earlier in the game, he somehow had got a bit of racquet on a stinging cross-court forehand at the net. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he won that point as well.
Unfortunately, all those incredible retrieving skills over almost two decades have also taken its toll on Nadal’s body, with him suffering a spate of injuries. Yes, in the past, he has charted some miraculous comebacks from debilitating injuries, and gone on to win majors. But he will be 37 this year. As he gets older, it would get more and more difficult to bounce back from injury setbacks.
He has played in just four competitive matches so far in the current season, and has withdrawn from every single Clay Court Masters event ahead of the French Open. As per Jean-Baptiste Perlant, the Bordeaux Challenger director, Nadal also declined a chance to play in the Bordeaux Challenger, which would have given him some practice.
On the field, it isn’t just his long-time rival Novak Djokovic who will be a constant threat. There are younger players like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who are playing at a very fast pace.
As the current world No.4 Casper Ruud once said in EuroSport’s Ruud talk, “They are playing at an incredible pace, you know, first of all they don’t hold back pretty much any time there are a couple of slices here and there but from the forehead and the back and they have hit perfect shots. They can hit winners from anywhere, they can defend well, and they just even from defense, they just rip it back and forth.”
But despite all the obstacles and threats in front of him, Nadal still seems determined to make another successful comeback. Although the 22-time slam champion seemed a touch worried when he gave the latest update on his hip injury. “I can’t give deadlines because if I knew I would tell you but I don’t know. This is how things are now. I have no choice but to try to have the right attitude throughout this time, try to give myself the opportunity to compete in one of the tournaments that remains of the clay season and I have no choice but to work and be with the right mentality.”
As things stand, it is anyone’s guess whether Nadal would miss out on playing in a Grand Slam that he basically made his own over 18 years. Perhaps the straight loss against Mackenzie McDonald and a hobbling Nadal in the Australian Open would be the last bit of memory of the legend playing professional tennis. As a tennis aficionado, you hope that won’t be the case, and there would be at least one final hurrah for the man from Mallorca.