Rafael Nadal said that retiring from Wimbledon was tougher than it would have been exiting the tournament via a loss. This season, Nadal hasn’t lost a Grand Slam match. After winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and French Open, Nadal reached the Wimbledon semifinal.
Nadal didn’t even have a chance to battle for a Wimbledon final spot after an abdominal injury forced him to pull out of the match. Giving a walkover doesn’t count as a win or a loss. “Well, yeah, I didn’t lose a match, but I didn’t win all three,” Nadal said.
“So, In some way, yeah, was even tougher. Retiring is, in my opinion, much tougher than lose. That’s the thing, no? The sports is about winning or losing, not about retiring. When you retire, you can’t compete. The feeling is much worse than losing a match, no?”
Nadal battling injuries but keeps winning
Throughout the season, Nadal has battled various physical setbacks.
This season, Nadal has been plagued by foot, rib and most recently abdominal issue. But physical setbacks are nothing new to Nadal, who has been overcoming injuries for pretty much his entire career. “In some way it’s (injuries) part of my tennis career, too,” Nadal noted.
“In the other hand, of course I’m having an amazing year in terms of results, but at the same time a tough year because I went through the foot, the rib, stress fracture on the rib, then the tear in the abdominal.
A lot of things going on during the last six months and a half, seven months. At the same time we coming back from a tough period of time.” On Tuesday, Nadal made a winning start to his US Open campaign after beating Rinky Hijikata 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3. In the US Open second round, Nadal plays experienced Italian Fabio Fognini.
