The worst omens were confirmed this Thursday morning. Rafael Nadal suffers a grade 2 iliopsoas injury to his left leg, which occurred during his second round match at the Australian Open against Mackenzie McDonald. Pepperstone’s ATP ranking No.
2, who underwent an MRI in Melbourne before taking his flight back to Spain, will be sidelined for around six to eight weeks, his team announced in a statement. Nadal felt intense pain in the affected area in the eighth game of the second set against the American.
Despite the inconvenience, the match ended, which he ended up losing 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. Although the Spaniard did not want to advance the diagnosis in the post-match press conference, the MRI under the supervision of Dr.
Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro from Clínica Teknon determined the extent of the injury to the iliopsoas of his left leg. Now, Nadal, who has played a total of four games in 2023 (with a 1-3 record), will be on sports rest and will carry out anti-inflammatory physiotherapy work in the coming days.
«I’m tired, sad, disappointed,» Nadal said after the match in the press room. “From here, I suppose that when things progress, the appropriate decisions will be made, because I want to continue playing tennis. That being said, don’t think I want to take a step back, I don’t, but my current feelings are bad.
«You can see that it is again, that in the last three Grand Slams I have not been able to finish any in good condition: two abdominal tears, I don’t know what is happening in the hip here…», recalled the 22-time Grand Slam champion .
«We can come here, put on a brave face, which I do, and accept things, which I also do, but you don’t have to kid yourself and make an optimistic speech when you’re not today.»
Rafael Nadal was far from his best moment
Rafael Nadal has made it clear that he will not do anything crazy to get back on track sooner.
“I am not a pessimist or an optimist, right now I am cautious, we have to wait and see what the doctors say. There is no other option than to accept things as they come,” he expressed. “I have never done crazy things to want to return early.
I hope it doesn’t take long, I’m just asking for that,» he added. The Spaniard’s streak at the Australian Open came to an end after losing to Mackenzie McDonald (6-4, 6-4, 7-5).
