Rafael Nadal fighting time, and an ailing hip, to get another crack at hory

For the better part of the 21st century, the European spring has played host to a peculiar Sunday tradition.
For the average tennis obsessive, after spending a majority of the previous 9 months watching hard court play, action switches in April to outdoor red clay, a surface as physically taxing as it is technically demanding. They watch hardened athletes sweat and toil on the dirt for week-long events, only to draw out an entirely predictable conclusion – Rafael Nadal lifting the trophy at the end.
Nadal, 36, is the long-fabled ‘King of Clay’, a title even the most cliche-opposed contrarians cannot deny. The Spaniard usually kicked off his clay season at the Monte Carlo Masters (where he has won 11 titles), before going to Barcelona (12 titles), where the showpiece court adorns his name. He would then play the double header of Masters 1000 events in Madrid (five) and Rome (10), considered the biggest form-indicators ahead of the French Open, where Nadal has been crowned 14 times.
On Thursday, however, the Spaniard would put out an all-too-familiar social media update, informing his fans of his withdrawal from Madrid, his third in as many weeks. Still struggling with the hip injury he sustained in his second-round exit at the Australian Open this year, Nadal revealed that he remains unfit to return to competitive tennis and will now be seeking a different treatment as he races against time to defend his French Open title in the final week of May.

Hola a todos. Hace un tiempo que no me comunico directamente con vosotros. Han sido unas semanas y unos meses difíciles. Como sabéis me hice una una lesión importante en Australia, en el Psoas. pic.twitter.com/m0TbsGFn5t
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) April 20, 2023
“I suffered a major injury in Australia, in the psoas (muscle). Initially, it had to be a six to eight week recovery period and we are now on 14. The reality is that the situation is not what we would have expected,” he said.
“The injury still hasn’t healed and I can’t work out what I need to do to compete. I was training but now a few days ago we decided to change course a bit, do another treatment and see if things improve to try to get to what comes next. I can’t give deadlines because if I knew I would tell you, but I don’t know.”
Broader problems
Nadal’s recent struggles present broader problems. After a remarkable injury return last year saw him win two Grand Slams, he slumped back into injury-peril. An abdominal problem forced him to withdraw from the Wimbledon semifinal, and derailed the rest of his year. The hip injury in January has kept him out of competition entirely.
Injury crisis is nothing new for Nadal – every single one of the load-bearing areas of his body have taken the toll of his physically taxing playing style over the years. But what were seen as regular fights of resilience and heart in his late-twenties, have now become laborious exercises of dealing with pain. Recovery-times have increased, and activity at the highest level has decreased.
And now, the Spaniard faces his latest crisis at the high-points of one of modern tennis’s most captivating narratives, the Grand Slam race with long-time rival Novak Djokovic. Both Nadal and Djokovic are tied at 22 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in the sport’s hory, and Nadal’s best chance to win more will be in Paris.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, left, congratulates Spain’s Rafael Nadal who won the quarterfinal match in four sets, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Chrophe Ena)
At the moment, Djokovic is currently fighting it out in a lower-rung event in Bosnia to return to match sharpness and fitness. But there is little doubt that the Serb, still the most complete men’s tennis player, will be at full tilt come the end of May. And he will not be the only one.
Teenage sensation and Nadal’s countryman, Carlos Alcaraz, has already become a superstar over the past year, and his contemporaries Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune are going from strength to strength. Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, and Stefanos Tsitsipas will also be eyeing a chance at a maiden Major at their preferred surface.

As the l of genuine contenders in Paris grows, Nadal’s chances at a 15th title shrink ever so slightly. Logic dictates, then, that if he is unable to play in the final clay tuneup in Rome, he will either withdraw from the French Open, or have very little chance of going all the way.
Count him out at your own peril though. In four seasons, Nadal has only won three best-of-three clay tournaments, but has maintained his dominance at Roland Garros, lifting the trophy five of the last six years. Last year, he had only played five clay-court matches, the last of which saw the chronic foot injury he has faced since the start of his career flare up, but still defeated five top 10 seeds, including Djokovic, to lift the French Open trophy.
His suitability to both the Parisian conditions, as well as the longer best-of-five format, have made for a formidable record at Roland Garros, where he has only lost three competitive matches.
The overwhelming narrative arc of Nadal’s career has pointed to the fact that he does not need miracles. Pure effort, and heart, have been enough. But as he races against time to play the most important event of his career, just to be healthy and fit, he will be holding out for one.