Rafael Nadal felt the greatest discomfort and raised the alarm after the defeat in Brisbane: “I had a little feeling that wasn’t nice”

The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal This Friday he raised the alarm in the tennis world after his fall against the Australian Jordan Thompsonfor the quarter-finals of the BrisbaneATP250in providing details on the physical discomfort felt during the match “in a similar area to last year“, which forced him to receive medical treatment.

“The only problem is that it’s in a similar area and This makes me more worried than normal. The best thing that can happen is that the muscles are overloaded by the effort of these three days and by a tough match like this. It would be ideal, but we don’t know yet”, said the Majorcan, who returned to play an official match on 31 December, after 347 days of absence due to the injury suffered in January 2023 to the iliac psoas of the leg. , for the who had to undergo surgery.

“Right now it’s too early to say anything. It’s not the right day to talk about it too much. I just hope it’s a big overload and that I can continue training in the next few days. If not, it will be time for further testing. If it stays like this, an overload, it will have been a very positive week. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been so much,” said the 37-year-old winner of 22 Grand Slam titles.

Along the same lines he added: “I’ll have to see how I wake up tomorrow. I’ve been cautious these days because after a year without playing it’s difficult to play top-level tournaments and you never know how your body will react. I have to take things as they come and hope it’s nothing serious and I have the opportunity to train next week and play in Melbourne. But right now I’m not one hundred percent sure.“.

In any case he tried to be optimistic about the future: “I hope it’s just that and that the muscles are tired. It would be a normal process. If so, perfect. I trust that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow the sensation in my leg will be fine.”

Regarding the match against Thompson, in which he had three match points and was unable to take advantage of them, he described: “It was an intense, very difficult match, which I had won several times. He played at a high level. I didn’t have the quality of the ball. of the previous days, but I was still in a very good position to win the game and probably 95 or 98% of the time I ended up winning it.

And he closed:”This is all part of the process after so long without competition and you have to give credit to Jordan Thompson, who played a great game.”

Nadal’s defeat

Nadal was defeated 7-5, 6-7 (6) and 3-6 against Thompson, who did not give up and managed to come back in a match dominated from the start by the legendary Spaniard.

It was Rafa’s first big fight after his comfortable wins this week against Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler, both in straight sets. This time, in front of the 29-year-old Sydney native, the story was very different. The Spaniard won a difficult first set and had the chance to finish it in the second, but wasted three match points which ended up giving confidence to the local credit.

In the third chapter, Thompson managed to quickly break Nadal’s serve and with the strength of his serve (apart from some reactions from Rafa) he led the match until he won the victory with a last point that seemed infinite.

Rafa gave away some pearls, such as a “no look” stitch that portrayed all his talent and all his physical strength. He ran from the back of the court towards the net and beat his rival with a pass that crossed from side to side.

Like a true gentleman, Nadal left the stadium with a smile and waving to the crowd, who gave him a final ovation as they watched him leave with his bag and defeat in tow.

In addition to the mental declines, the final phase of the match raised concerns about the physical condition of the Majorcan, who had to be treated for a hip problem at the end of the third set, after losing serve against Thompson, and which led to the his subsequent uncertainty…

After receiving treatment, Nadal became more solid on serve but failed to trouble the local idol, who reached the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time.

Thompson will face second-seeded Bulgarian Gregor Dimitrov in the semifinals, who eliminated local Rinky Hijikata 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and 19 minutes. The other semi-final will be played by the Norwegian Holger Rune, first favorite and ready to make the big leap in 2024, and the Russian Roman Safiullin, executioners of the Australian James Duckworth (6-2 and 7-6) and the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (7-6 and 6-2 respectively).