BREAKING TENNIS NEWS – RAFA RAFAEL NADAL WITHDRAWS FROM FRENCH OPEN, SIDELINED BY A LEFT WRIST PROBLEM

Written by: Staff on 27th May 2016

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

BREAKING TENNIS NEWS - RAFA RAFAEL NADAL WITHDRAWS FROM FRENCH OPEN, SIDELINED BY A LEFT WRIST PROBLEM

epa05330035 Rafael Nadal of Spain in action against Facundo Bagnis of Argentina during their men's single second round match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2016.??? EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

Nadal withdraws from French Open, sidelined by left wrist problem

By Ricky Dimon

Alarm bells rang–with a frightening sound–at Roland Garros when a press conference for Rafael Nadal was announced from completely out of nowhere for 4:45 local time on Friday. Shortly thereafter, once Andy Murray wrapped up his interview, the tournament’s worst fears were confirmed. Nadal pulled out of the French Open due to a left wrist injury.

“Well, just, hello,” the nine-time champion started. “I’m here to announce that I have to retire from the tournament because I have a problem in my wrist that I have had a couple of weeks. Every day that happens is stronger, and I arrived here with a little bit of pain but something that I think I was able to manage. Every day was a little bit worse. We tried to do all the treatments possible. Every single day we spent a lot of hours here working so hard to try to play. Yesterday I played with an injection on the wrist with anesthetic, just to sleep my wrist, to play.”

On the court, few could tell Nadal was struggling. The world No. 5 destroyed Sam Groth 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in his opener before rolling over Facundo Bagnis 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

“I could play, but the thing is yesterday night I start to feel more and more pain, and today in the morning I feel that I could not move much the wrist. So I came here, I did MRI…. Well, and the results are not positive. The real thing is not 100 percent, you know. It’s not [torn], but if I keep playing (it will be torn in the) next couple of days. Every day the image is a little bit worse.

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts as he plays against Facundo Bagnis of Argentina during their men’s single second round match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2016. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

“It’s obvious that if it’s not Roland Garros, I will probably not take risks on playing the first two days, but is the most important event of the year for me so we tried our best. We take risks yesterday. That’s why we played with anesthetic injection, so without feeling at all on the wrist.

“But, you know, when I am coming to Roland Garros, I am coming — today I am coming thinking about winning the tournament. To win the tournament I need five more matches, and the doctor says that’s 100 percent impossible. That gonna be 100 percent [torn]. I cannot say in English because I don’t know exactly the name. Is I think is the sheath of the tendon. So if I continue playing, then will be impossible to finish the tournament. Is no chance that I can even practice more today. That’s it. I have to take that very bad decision for me, but just that’s part of the life, part of my career, too.

“I gonna keep going hard to recover as quick as possible and try to be back the next couple of years here having some more opportunities.”

Said tournament director Guy Forget, “First of all, my thoughts and all the people from the organization, the French Federation, [go] to Rafa…because, you know, he’s our biggest champion here. He won the tournament nine times. He has always made a priority to play our event.

“He said that it was his favorite tournament in his career and the most important one, and for him to actually withdraw from the tournament at this stage where he has already started to play, we know it’s a very painful decision.”

Fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers gets a free pass to the fourth round and will face either Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev for a place in the quarterfinals.