ROME – Fast and dominant in the first set against Denis Shapovalov, Rafael Nadal was just the opposite in the section of the Italian Open on Thursday night.
Delay for the ball. Lameness between points. Grimace and trembling even when changing. His suffering was so visible, as double faults and unforced errors accumulated late in the final set that even Canadian fans sitting high in the stands in the central court applauded Nadal sympathetically as their compatriot Shapovalov put the finishing touches on his victory. 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, in the round of 16.
Shapovalov, a resilient and explosive leftist ranked number 16, has the tools to upset even the healthy Nadal. He beat him in their first match in 2017, when Shapovalov was still a teenager, and had to beat him in last year’s round of 16 of the Italian Open, when he failed to score two matches. He also led Nadal to five sets at this year’s Australian Open.
But this was far from a healthy Nadal, with his chronic left leg problem known as Mueller-Weiss disease, which has reappeared on his favorite surface. With the outline of the French Open, his mood was as sad and thoughtful as I can remember for almost 20 years after his career.
“I guess there will come a time when my head will say ‘Enough,'” Nadal, a 10-time Italian Open champion, said in Spanish, pursed his lips and shaking his head. “Pain takes away your happiness not only in tennis, but also in life. And my problem is that I live with too much pain for many days. “
Nadal said he also had to live on “a ton of anti-inflammatory drugs every day to give me a chance to train.”
“This is my reality,” he said. “And there have been many days, like today, when the time comes when I can’t do it.”
He finished with 34 unforced errors and just 13 winners on Thursday, and the question now is whether the most successful player in history will ever be able to play in the French Open, the Grand Slam tournament that has won a record 13 times.
“I will continue to dream of this goal,” Nadal said of the tournament. “The downside is that it’s not possible for me to play today, but maybe in two days things will get better. That’s the thing I have on my feet. “
The French Open will start in nine days on May 22, although Nadal may not have to play until May 24, as the French Open, which starts on Sunday, holds its first round in three days.
Although Nadal, who will turn 36 next month, has often shown amazing fighting spirit and restorative strength, it will be a challenge like no other for him in Paris this spring.
“It’s definitely hard to see him in pain there at the end; I never want to see that, especially with a great legend like Rafa, “said Shapovalov, who still had to play bold tennis and great serves to win on Thursday. “I hope it’s good. He brings so much to our sport. We hope he is fit and ready to go for the French. “
The only time Nadal triumphed at Roland Garros without winning a clay tournament earlier in the year was in 2020, the season shortened by the pandemic, when the start of the French Open was postponed to October and almost the entire clay season was canceled.
This year the schedule returned to normal, but not for Nadal. After a tumultuous start to the season, with 20 straight victories and a record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open singles, his clay campaign was delayed due to a fractured rib that prevented him from competing or training normally for six weeks. .
He returned for the Madrid Open this month and was upset by 19-year-old Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaras in the quarter-finals and is now experiencing his earliest defeat at the 2008 Italian Open, when Juan Carlos Ferrero, former No. 1, who is now the coach of Alcaras, surprised Nadal in the second round.
Nadal anyway won the French Open in 2008, beating his main rival Roger Federer in the final, but Nadal had already won titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Hamburg that year.
This season, he lacks matches and victories on clay, while established threats such as Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas, as well as new ones such as Alcaras, have established themselves.
“After all, even the greatest players can’t beat Father Time,” said Brad Stein, a veteran American coach who now works with Tommy Paul. “It simply came to our notice then. What he did in Australia was not exceptional, but I think we see the side effects of his great start to the season. If he is healthy, he is still a pet week after week, but if he is big. “If the Body Disintegrates” is not included in Kipling’s poem.
This is a reference to “If”, an excerpt of which is placed at the entrance of the players in the central court of Wimbledon.
It is difficult after 15 years of watching Nadal to almost always overcome difficulties and the opposition of Roland Garros to imagine that he really will not find a way to challenge.
“I will fight for it,” he said grimly. “I will continue to believe this week and a half.”
It is clear that for change he does not have to be a favorite. “There’s no way,” said Mark Petchi, a veteran coach and analyst. “Many favorites and players with real chances to win.”
His longer list includes defending champion Djokovic; last year’s other finalist, Tsitsipas; Alkaraz; Alexander Zverev; Casper Ruud; and the young Italian Jannik Sinner.
After losing to Djokovic in the semi-final of four sets in Paris last June, Nadal has played just five clay-court games, losing two.
Watching him fight and then limping on Thursday was a reminder that nothing is eternal, not even Nadal on the surface, which he made his own.
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