Nadal “more scared than usual” with fresh injury worry after Thompson defeat

After losing in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Brisbane against Jordan Thompson, Rafa Nadal attended a press conference and spoke about the discomfort that weighed him down at the end of the match in both his left psoas (back) muscle and his hip, which he had surgery on last June. The Spaniard hopes it is “a big overload” and expressed his desire to be able to play the Australian Open (January 14 to 28).

“I need to see how I wake up tomorrow morning. I’m not too positive when I talk and I do it with a lot of caution, because I know that after a year it’s difficult for the body to be playing tournaments at the highest level. When things become more difficult, you don’t know how it’s going to react,” Nadal said.

‘Even without playing, I was training at the highest level’

“I need to be open. Nothing changed for me. The way I approach everything didn’t change at all. I need to accept everything as it comes. If things happen, if I have a problem there or in another part of the body, I need to accept it. It’s a start. It’s been a long time since I played a tournament. Even without playing, I was training at the highest level for four months”.

The 22-time Grand Slam winner hopes that the injury is “not important” and said he wants “to have the opportunity to train next week and play in Melbourne... Honestly, I’m not 100% sure about anything right now,” he admitted.

Rafa, who hadn’t played since the 2023 Brisbane Open, explained that he did not leave the match due to injury: “the amount of pain was not relevant, at all. I had the opportunity to play three matches. The opponent played well. All the credit goes to him, that he fought very hard. For my part, I’m happy with how the week has gone. If this is not important, it is a very positive week. If [the physical issue] worse than we want it to be, then it’s not so positive. But let’s hope. It’s not the day to talk about this kind of thing. It’s a day to be happy and congratulate the opponent. Then, in the next few days, we will see how I feel. If I don’t feel good, then we will do tests and check them. I have to be calm and wait how I wake up tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”

‘I didn’t come here to win tournaments, just to try to come back’

Nadal specified where he had felt the discomfort: “It’s a very similar place to last year, but different things. I feel more something muscular. Last year it was my hamstring. I feel the muscle is tired. For sure it’s not the same as last year, because when it happened, I felt something drastic right away. Today I didn’t feel anything. The only problem is that because the place is the same, you’re a little more scared than usual. In an ideal world, it’s just the muscle overloaded after a few days of effort and a very hard match. That would be ideal, something we know what can happen.”

The 37-year-old Spanish tennis legend insists that’s why he repeats “all the time” that his goal “is to try to be competitive in a few months... From this perspective, the only thing you probably see is that I’ve been playing very well the last two matches. It’s true, I’ve been playing well. A lot of things can be happening in a body like mine after a year of not playing tennis”.

“So I hope it’s just that, just a muscle that’s overloaded”, he continued. “It’s a normal process in that. If that’s the thing, all perfect. Like I said, I didn’t come here to win tournaments now. Just to try to come back and do so in a positive way. I really hope that the feelings will be better tomorrow and better the day after tomorrow. If not, like I said, we’ll test and see.”