World No.2 Rafael Nadal suffers an abdominal injury during the warm-ups at the Rolex Paris Masters 2019 and forfeits from his semifinal match against Denis Shapovalov on Saturday.
We regret to inform you that owing to R.NADAL's withdrawal, his match with D.SHAPOVALOV has unfortunately had to be cancelled@denis_shapo thus qualifies for the final by virtue of a walkover#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/hn7rU9bQtJ
— ROLEX PARIS MASTERS (@RolexPMasters) November 2, 2019
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The Spaniard’s withdrawal came just when the match was scheduled to start at 4.30 local time in Paris. According to the reports, the Mallorcan was wounded during his last warm-up shortly before his semi-final match. However, Nadal’s head coach Carlos Moya revealed that everything is fine with the 19-time Grand Slam champion.
According to the reports, Nadal was in better shape, but in one of the last serves of the warm-up, he felt something in the abdominal. It didn’t allow him to serve at the level he needs to and he pulled out as there was a big chance to increase the problem.
Reports also suggest that a small strain seen in the medical images and Nadal tried but still felt the pain didn’t allow him to serve pain free.
Talking about his injury, Nadal said in the press conference in Paris, “We saw something on the image, probably a small strain.”
“There was also a risk of aggravating the injury by playing, so I followed the doctor’s recommendation. Sad for me because I was in a position to do something good here, but I had to take this decision,” Nadal added.
Rafael Nadal also recalled that in 2009, he had the same issue at the US Open which had the strength to finish a tear of 28 mm and so, the 33-year-old does not want to repeat that.
He noted: “I had this issue in US Open 2009. It was a bad experience because I started the tournament with around six-seven millimeters of strain and I keep playing, I keep playing and that was the year when I lost the semifinal against Del Potro.”
“I finished the tournament with 28 millimeters strain so have been a big thing after that and I couldn’t play the semifinals of Davis Cup that was against Israel. So it took me almost a month outside of the tennis month so we don’t want to repeat that” Nadal further added.
Denis Shapovalov will face Novak Djokovic for the title match at the 2019 Rolex Paris Masters 2019 on Sunday. Earlier, the World No.1 eased past Grigor Dimitrov in the first semifinals in Paris.
Rafael Nadal will dethrone Novak Djokovic from the No.1 position in the ATP rankings on Monday regardless of the Serb’s result at the Paris Bercy finals.
