‘Rafael Nadal has affected younger generation more than Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic’, claims legend
Tennis great Mats Wilander believes Rafael Nadal has impacted the younger generation of players more than his rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion also feels Nadal’s injury setback in his return in Brisbane was “unfair” and suggested this may be “the last time that he was able to come back.”
Nadal has pulled out of the 2024 Australian Open, which will start on Sunday January 14, due to a hip muscle injury that surfaced during his comeback appearance at last week’s Brisbane International.
Prior to Brisbane, Nadal had not played since losing to Mackenzie McDonald in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open due to a hip injury. The 22-time major champion underwent arthroscopic surgery to treat the psoas muscle in his hip in June last year.
The 37-year-old lost to Jordan Thompson at the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane on Friday in a three-set quarter-final marathon lasting three hours and 24 minutes.
The former world No 1 was unable to convert the three match points he had in the second set against Thompson, before he left the court to receive treatment when trailing 1-4 in the deciding set.
Speaking to Eurosport, three-time Australian Open winner Wilander expressed his disappointment at Nadal’s unfortunate injury blow ahead of the season’s first major.
“It’s extremely sad news. Obviously it’s the most sad news for himself, because I saw the first three matches that he played in Brisbane. He looked extremely good in the first match against Dominic Thiem. He looked even better in the second round against Jason Kubler,” said the Swede.
“And then, having three match points in the third round against Jordan Thompson. He looked great. He can miss those match points. We all have done that in our careers. The older you get, maybe the more pressure you put on yourself but I think it’s a little bit of a wake-up call in one way.
“We’ve been woken up all the time by rough injuries on others, but the injury that he has now, when you hear the description of it – micro, I mean the injuries he gets and has gotten are so different from other players.
“You just realise that it’s not just his ankle and his knee and the big part of his muscle, it’s also the smaller muscles in his body. Either he’s trained so hard over the years, or he tries so hard over the years that he breaks. And it’s so unusual.
“It is unfair to someone like Rafa Nadal, because he’s got the spirit that very few professional athletes have had over the years, and no-one, I think, gets the people so emotionally involved in his tennis or the sport they’re doing.
“So he’s a player that has had seasons. His season has very rarely lasted the whole year. We’ve gotten used to him coming back and doing the non-human thing, of coming back from injury time and time and time again, and maybe now at 37 years old, maybe this is the last time that he was able to come back.”
The former world No 1 also hailed the impact Nadal has had on the younger generation of stars with his behaviour and effort level.
“It’s time that we start to celebrate Rafael Nadal, because Rafael Nadal is the main reason why we have the passion and players like Carlos Alcaraz, like a Stefanos Tsitsipas,”
“I mean Rafael Nadal is the one that has affected the younger generation more to me than, Roger Federer, or even Novak Djokovic, because of the way that he has behaved over the years. Always so.
“Such a sportsman, always trying so hard, maybe trying too hard. But I think that’s what we want to see in our younger players and Rafa is the main reason for me.”
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