Beijing time on March 22: Beijing time this evening. Spanish champion Nadal, who finished runners-up at Indian Wells last week, announced on social media that he had returned to Spain on Monday local time, after which Nadal underwent a physical examination. Reports show stress fractures in Nadal's ribs and are expected to rest for 4-6 weeks. Nadal has just returned from injury and COVID-19 this season, winning his 21st career Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and achieving a double-lap Grand Slam feat and finishing first in history with 21 Grand Slams. It was not until last week that indian weiss started with a career-best 20-game winning streak, and finally lost to Fritz in the final to finish runners-up. Now that the fracture has been diagnosed, it will be a huge test for Nadal to play in this year's clay season.
Nadal was frustrated by the injury in his social media statement, saying: "I didn't expect this to be the case at all, I am very disappointed and sad now, because I started this season very well and it is about to come to the most important clay season for me." He was unwell in the Indian Wells semi-final against Alcaraz and after the match he expressed confidence that it should not affect the final. However, in the final, his state was obviously up and down, and after being runner-up, in a media interview, he revealed that he even felt pain in his breathing!
According to the original schedule, Nadal's clay season will be as usual for the Monte Carlo Masters, barcelona open, Madrid masters, Rome masters and the French Open. As it stands, Nadal will at least miss the Monte Carlo Masters and barcelona open, and will return to the Madrid Masters as soon as early May. As the strongest player in clay, Nadal sits on 13 French Open trophies, this season Nadal has shown good competitive form, I believe he also very much hopes that the title lost this year in Roland Garros will further expand his lead in the number of Grand Slam titles.
This news is really not good news for Nadal, and we can only wish him a speedy recovery and return to the field. We will also continue to pay attention to bringing relevant reports to everyone.