Jim Courier weighs in on Rafael Nadal’s Indian Wells withdrawal amid retirement fears

Ewan West
Rafael Nadal and Jim Courier
Rafael Nadal and Jim Courier

Former world No 1 Jim Courier has given his thoughts on the injury struggles of Rafael Nadal after the tennis icon withdrew from the 2024 Indian Wells Open. 

The four-time Grand Slam champion highlighted the fact the French Open is the “big picture goal” for Nadal and feels the Spaniard did not want to compromise his chances of being healthy in Paris.

Nadal withdrew on the opening day of the tournament in Indian Wells on Wednesday — the day before he was set to take on Milos Raonic in the opening round.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion has not played a competitive match since suffering a hip injury in his quarter-final loss to Jordan Thompson in Brisbane in January. The Spaniard was beaten by 20-year-old compatriot Carlos Alcaraz in the Netflix Slam exhibition in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The 37-year-old made his comeback from nearly a year out of action in Brisbane, having sustained a hip psoas muscle injury at the 2023 Australian Open.

Nadal’s latest setback forced him to pull out of the 2024 Australian Open in January, as well as the Qatar Open in Doha last month — where he had hoped to return.

READ MORE: Indian Wells director Tommy Haas ‘disappointed’ by Rafael Nadal withdrawal as refunds announced

Speaking in a discussion on Tennis Channel, Courier weighed in on Nadal’s latest blow after the three-time Indian Wells champion announced he would not feature at this year’s event.

“I was in Las Vegas for the Netflix Slam when he and Carlos Alcaraz played on Sunday and Nadal looked compromised at that event,” the American said.

“He wasn’t arching his back the way he normally would to serve, his serve numbers were a little lower than we would have expected and he was not moving with the same type of freedom. Neither was Carlos for that matter.

“So I can’t say that this is totally surprising, but it is thoroughly disappointing for Rafa first and foremost. He was doing everything right and enjoying it and unfortunately he’s had a setback and that’s definitely disappointing for him.

“But I think all of us understand the big picture goal is to be ready for Roland Garros and I don’t think he decided that it was worth the risk to come out and play.

“Listen, there’s plenty of opportunities for him to get the matchplay that he values so much, right? You’ve got Monte Carlo, you’ve got Barcelona, you’ve got Madrid, you have Rome.

“You have a full buffet of options and obviously he’ll gain access to any of those tournaments he wants at any time. The question is, what type of a schedule do they think as a team is going to set him up to be ready to make a run at Roland Garros? if his body allows him that, fingers crossed, we all wish.

“We’ll blink and we’ll be in Paris and hopefully we’ll be seeing Rafa there in the flesh and not just that beautiful statue of him there because he deserves it and tennis fans around the world deserve to get a chance to see him there one more time if we can, but his body definitely has some different ideas at the moment.”

Three-time major winner Lindsay Davenport also gave her reaction to the news and suggested Nadal may not play again in the United States.

“He was playing so well in Brisbane earlier this year, his first tournament back. Then he felt, it looked like the hip and the groin area again, went back and rehabbed,” the former world No 1 said.

“We were so excited to hear he was going to make the trip out west. But again, you can’t expect him to go out and compete when he’s compromised. If you watched him practise around, it didn’t seem like he was able to move, even after playing in Las Vegas.

“He gave it his best efforts, he loves it out here, he loves it in the desert. But these court are gritty and it’s tough to really move around. Now we wonder, will we see Rafa at a tournament again in the States?”

READ MORE: Rafael Nadal admits he ‘can’t lie’ to himself as he announces worrying Indian Wells withdrawal

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