Devastated Nadal says back injury made things difficult
Print Edition
A DEVASTATED Rafael Nadal wiped away tears yesterday as he said a sudden back problem made it “impossible” to win the Australian Open final against Stanislas Wawrinka, after his latest injury nightmare at Melbourne Park.
Nadal, who was still distraught and fighting back tears at the press conference, said he first felt a twinge during the warm-up, and the problem gradually got worse.
“It was a little bit worse in the first set. End of the first set, I start to feel worse,” he said.
“Then at the beginning of the second was the key moment that I felt, during a serve in a bad movement, it’s very stiff, very bad.”
He took a medical timeout when 1-2 down in the second set and bravely battled on, but his movement was restricted and the pace of his serves dropped significantly. Despite clearly being in pain, the Spaniard never considered to call it quits. “Last thing that I wanted to do was a retirement. No, I hate to do that, especially in a final,” he said.
“Same time, it’s tough... during the whole year you are working for a moment like this, and it arrives and you feel that you are not able to play at your best. So it was not an easy situation for me to be on court like this, but I tried hard until the end, trying to finish the match as good as I can for the crowd, for the opponent, for me.”
Despite rallying to unexpectedly clinch the third set, with Wawrinka apparently unsettled by the medical timeout, Nadal said he was never going to win.
“I tried everything until the last moment, but was impossible to win this way. The opponent is too good,” he said. “I’m obviously disappointed and very sad about what happened. But that’s life, that’s sport.”
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