Nadal and a well-deserved rest to earth
The Spanish Rafael Nadal with the finalist trophy after losing to the American Taylor Fritz. /
The Spaniard will not compete until Monte Carlo, when the clay tour begins
Rafael Nadal's incredible start to the year came to an abrupt end in the title match in Indian Wells. Defeat against Taylor Fritz, goodbye to the fourth title in the Californian desert and physical problems, the most worrying of all.
"The only thing that worries me is what is happening there," said the Spaniard in reference to the chest discomfort that weighed him down in the final against Fritz. "When I breathe and when I move it's like I have a needle inside all the time. It is a type of pain that limits me a lot. It's not just because of the pain, I don't feel very good because it affects my breathing," he added.
The problems have appeared after a spectacular 20-1, the fifth best streak at the beginning of a season in history. Only behind Novak Djokovic's 41-0 in 2011, John McEnroe's 39-0 in 1984, Djokovic's 26-0 in 2020 and Bjorn Borg's 26-0 in 1980. Nadal has improved in California the records of Roger Federer and Pete Sampras who had 17 wins in a row to start the year in 2018 and 1998, respectively.
But this 20-1 was not the goal. Not the wanted one, at least. Nadal returned to the circuit wary of the foot injury that kept him in the dry dock for five months and began to win games with the goal of not suffering from the pain. Along the way, the ATP 250 in Melbourne, the twenty-first Grand Slam in Australia and the ATP 500 in Acapulco fell. Only the icing on the Masters 1,000 was missing.
Indian Wells has left worrying consequences, not only on his chest, but also on his foot, which he complained about before the semifinals against Carlos Alcaraz. And is not for less. Nadal played two hours and 15 minutes against Reilly Opelka in the round of 16, two hours and 48 minutes in the quarters against Nick Kyrgios and three hours and 12 minutes in the semifinals against Alcaraz. Plus the first and second rounds, in which, in total, he spent four hours. More than twelve hours on the track, more training and recoveries. The effort has been arduous and that pushed Nadal to announce earlier in the week that he would not participate in Miami, the second Masters 1,000 of the season that begins this Monday. Nadal has never won in Florida and that will not change this year.
Resting and arriving well on the clay is the important thing. The clay tour starts on April 10 in Monte Carlo, to continue later in Barcelona (April 18), Madrid (May 1), Rome (April 8) and Roland Garros (May 22). That is Nadal's roadmap if everything goes well. The man from Manacor defends the titles in Barcelona and Rome, as well as fourth in Madrid and Monte Carlo. In total, 2580 points. Only Djokovic defends more, with 3,030 units at stake. The difference between the Serbian and the Spaniard, who is already third in the standings, is only 750 points, but the problem for a hypothetical assault on first place is that Daniil Medvedev, second, only got a loot of 460 points the last season on clay. His room for improvement is enormous and he is barely 20 units apart from Djokovic. He could even regain the throne in Miami if he climbs to the semifinals.
This should not be a battle that takes away Nadal's sleep, whose goal is in the Grand Slams and in continuing to widen his gap with Federer and Djokovic, who have one less wound than him. The Serbian will also appear in June with the task of defending both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The good news for him is that everything points to him being able to play both tournaments.
