Jimmy Connors gives Rafael Nadal retirement verdict after Monte Carlo injury setback
Tennis legend Jimmy Connors has given his thoughts on Rafael Nadal’s injury struggles after the Spanish legend was forced to withdraw from the 2024 Monte Carlo Masters.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion proclaimed that “playing hurt is no fun”, while asserting only Nadal can make the decision of when he retires from the sport.
Nadal announced his withdrawal from the Monte Carlo Masters last week and recently opened up on the difficulties of being unable to compete due to his physical issues.
“My body won’t let me. It’s getting difficult for me. It’s been a difficult year and a half, I’m trying every day. I have things to solve, and the reality is that at the moment I’m not being able to put myself in a position to compete. It’s hard,” the 37-year-old told Movistar.
“On a personal level, everything is good. On a professional level, it is difficult, and you also have to weigh the bad moments and those that you would never have imagined experiencing.
“I don’t rule out anything, not even being in Barcelona or Madrid, but at the moment, I am not being able to get there due to physical problems.
“Many people have mental problems, and I also have them when in my work I can’t manage to fight for my goals, but, no, it’s physical, I have abdominal problems since I returned from Australia. We are trying things. We are going day by day.”
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Nadal has played only one tournament and three competitive matches since January 2023, when he suffered a serious hip injury in his loss to Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open.
The Mallorcan underwent arthroscopic surgery on his hip psoas muscle in June last year and had a setback with the same hip in his comeback tournament in Brisbane in January.
The 22-time major champion was forced to pull out of the 2024 Australian Open, and also withdrew from events in Doha and Indian Wells prior to Monte Carlo.
Speaking on an episode of the Advantage Connors podcast, former world No 1 Connors expressed his sympathy for Nadal’s troubles as he reflected on his own experiences in the latter years of his career.
“Playing hurt is no fun, especially as you get older. If you’re not careful, you can even do more damage. Rafa’s been around long enough, he knows himself better than anybody and nobody should make that decision but him,” said the 71-year-old American.
“There’s nothing worse than playing hurt because that takes away everything. It takes away your movement, it takes away the way you hit your shots and it takes away your attitude toward the way you wanna play. You’re always hedging, you’re not fully confident in your health and your movement.
“I know how difficult it is to let go. No matter what, you try to do anything to stay around and do what you’ve done at the top of the game for so long and been so successful and you know, sometimes, it’s tough to let go.
“With the success he has, there’s no looking back and saying, ‘I wish I would’ve done something’. I’m sure he’s done everything he’s ever gotten in the game to do and, you know, taking care of your health I guess comes down to making that decision.”
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