{"id":373881,"date":"2024-03-07T20:37:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T21:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=373881"},"modified":"2024-03-08T01:06:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T01:06:09","slug":"the-end-is-nigh-couriers-tip-after-sad-nadal-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=373881","title":{"rendered":"'The end is nigh': Courier's tip after sad Nadal call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennis<\/a> legend Jim Courier<\/a> believes the "end is nigh" for Rafael Nadal<\/a>, after the Spaniard withdrew from Indian Wells<\/a> on Thursday afternoon (AEDT).<\/p>\n

Nadal was scheduled to play Milos Raonic in the first round of the event on Friday afternoon (AEDT).<\/p>\n

The 22-time grand slam winner has played only 12 competitive matches since the 2022 US Open<\/a>. He lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the exhibition Netflix Slam in Las Vegas over the weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Speaking on Tennis TV, Courier said Nadal's withdrawal was "disappointing", but not unexpected.<\/p>\n

\"Rafael<\/p>\n

"I was at the Netflix Slam when he played Carlos Alcaraz, and he looked compromised at that event," he said.<\/p>\n

"He wasn't arching his back the way he normally would to serve, his serve numbers were a bit lower than expected and he wasn't moving with the same kind of movement."<\/p>\n

Nadal has a long-held desire to end his career at Roland-Garros, with many tipping the 2024 event to be his last.<\/p>\n

But given a lack of match fitness, there are high levels of doubt over whether or not his body can get him even that far.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/RafaelNadal\/status\/1765558137149640952<\/a><\/p>\n

The 37-year-old missed much of 2023 with a hip injury that required surgery. He briefly returned to action in Australia in early January before a torn muscle near the hip forced him to miss the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

He has not been on tour since.<\/p>\n

Added motivation for Nadal to get his body right is the Olympics \u2013 the tennis events will be held on the clay courts of Roland-Garros.<\/p>\n

Courier said Nadal still had at least four clay events \u2013 Monte Carlo, Madrid, Barcelona and Rome \u2013 where he could get his match fitness up.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Speculation surrounding how long Nadal and fellow grand slam champion Andy Murray \u2013 who booked himself in to the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over David Goffin \u2013 would extend their careers has been bubbling for several years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Murray looks like he might be stepping off the stage soon, and for Rafa it feels like the end is nigh for him as well," Courier said.<\/p>\n

"But you just want them to have that final run at the major that means the most to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"For Murray it's Wimbledon, and for Rafa it's Roland-Garros, and that's fast-approaching.<\/p>\n

"Time comes quickly \u2013 it feels like we were just in Australia, and we're already in the sunshine double.<\/p>\n

"We'll blink and we'll be in Paris and hopefully we'll be seeing Rafa in the flesh and not just that beautiful statue, because he deserves it and tennis fans around the world deserve to see him there one more time."<\/p>\n

In a social media post announcing his withdrawal, Nadal said he wasn't "ready to play at the highest level at such an important event".<\/p>\n

Indian Wells, held in southern California, is considered by many players to be a fifth major.<\/p>\n

\"Rafa<\/p>\n

"Everyone knows how much I love this place and how much I love to play here," Nadal said.<\/p>\n

"That's also one of the reasons why I came very early to the desert to practice and try to get ready."<\/p>\n

Nadal went on to say he had deliberately travelled to the US early to ensure he was as fit as he could be to play in the desert conditions. He arrived in the states nearly a fortnight ago, unexpectedly on the same flight as Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n

"It is not an easy decision, it's a tough one as a matter of fact but I can't lie to myself and lie to the thousands of fans," he said.<\/p>\n

Lucky Loser Sumit Nagal took Nadal's place in the Indian Wells draw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tennis legend Jim Courier believes the "end is nigh" for Rafael Nadal, after the Spaniard withdrew from Indian Wells on Thursday afternoon (AEDT). Nadal was […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":373883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=373881"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373885,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373881\/revisions\/373885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/373883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=373881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=373881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=373881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}