Rafael Nadal is vulnerable to falling to his lowest ATP rating in 18 years after MRI scans confirmed the extent of a hip harm that helped knock the tennis legend out of the Australian Open.
The defending champion broke down when he had already misplaced the primary two units to American Mackenzie McDonald in Wednesday evening’s second-round conflict.
An MRI confirmed a grade-two harm to Nadal’s left hip flexor muscle, which can go away him on the sidelines for a six to eight weeks – supplied his 36-year-old physique responds to relaxation and restoration.
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The timeline leaves Nadal unsure for the Indian Wells Masters starting on March 6 and places his long-standing rankings document on the brink.
The Spaniard has featured within the high 10 ever since he first reached the choose group in April 2005.
Nadal will drop 1955 rating factors after the Australian Open and 500 extra on the finish of February when the hip harm retains him from defending his Acapulco title.
Ought to he go on to overlook Indian Wells, the place he was a finalist final yr, he’ll drop 600 factors and in all probability fall out of the highest 10.
Nadal entered the Australian Open with a 2910-point buffer to world No.11.
“I actually hope that it would not put me out of the courtroom for a very long time,” he stated after his elimination.
Nadal extremely received the French Open final yr with out with the ability to really feel his left foot in any respect due to painkilling injections required simply to get on the courtroom.
However since struggling with belly and rib points that wrecked Wimbledon and the US Open he has appeared a shadow of his previous self.
“It is not solely the restoration,” Nadal stated on Wednesday evening.
“It is all the quantity of labor that you want to put collectively to come back again at a good degree. I went by means of this course of too many occasions in my profession.”
“I’m able to preserve doing it, I feel – however that is not straightforward…”
It was usually prompt earlier in Nadal’s profession, when persistent knee accidents dogged him, that his physicality would deliver a swift finish to his profession.
However even at 36, with a new child son in tow, he has declared the hip harm won’t cease him from returning.
“It is a quite simple factor: I like what I do,” Nadal stated of placing himself by means of extra rehab.
“I like enjoying tennis.” I do know it isn’t eternally. I wish to really feel myself aggressive. I wish to battle for the issues that I’ve been combating for nearly half of my life or much more.
“Once you do issues that you simply love to do, on the finish of the day, it isn’t a sacrifice.
“Sacrifice is if you end up doing issues that you do not need to do. And that was not my case.
“However after all it is tiring and irritating to spend so much of my tennis profession on recovering course of and making an attempt to battle towards all these things on a regular basis…”
