Rafael Nadal: Today Is One Of The Toughest Days

Following his stunning withdrawal from the French Open due to a left injury, Rafael Nadal went to facebook to post this message to his fans:

“Today is one of the toughest days. Having to withdraw from arguably the most important tournament of my career, a tournament that I love so much. I will be back in Roland Garros in the next years and hope to keep having chances in the future. Many thanks to all my fans for the support.”

Nadal was projected to play Novak Djokovic a week from today in the French Open semifinals. The day of his 30th birthday.

Instead, the 9-time French Open champion will be watching the semifinals on a TV for the second straight year. And who knows when he returns, but he’s hopeful by Wimbledon.

“Yesterday I played with an injection in my wrist. Last night I started to feel more and more pain. I did an MRI and an echography and the results were not positive. It’s not broken, but if I keep playing, something will break in the next couple of days. Every day the image has gotten a bit worse.

“I came here to win the tournament, and that means playing five more matches. According to the doctor, that would be impossible, as there is a 100% chance something will break,” Nadal added. “I know that I cannot finish the tournament. It’s part of life and I hope to be back at Roland Garros for many years to come.

“For the moment, I need a couple of weeks of immobilisation. Then we’re going to do the treatment, and we’ll hope that the treatment works well. But now is not the moment to talk about that. It’s just about taking it day by day, to work hard.

“I hope to have a fast recovery.”

Nadal was to meet Marcel Granollers in the third round on Saturday. It’s just the third time in his career that Rafa’s given a walkover in a tournament.