Rafael Nadal: Third top player ends the tennis season early

Sport Rafael Nadal

Third top player ends the tennis season early

Stand: 3:06 p.m.| Reading time: 2 minutes

The season is over for Rafael Nadal

Source: AFP / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT

The US Open will begin at the end of August. But the list of stars who canceled is getting longer and longer. Now Rafael Nadal declared as the third top player that the season was over for him. For Novak Djokovic, this clears the way to historic triumph.

Ka Roger Federer, no Dominic Thiem and now also no Rafael Nadal: The list of missing stars for the US Open starting on August 30th is getting longer and longer. After the Swiss Federer and the Austrian Thiem had recently canceled their start at the last Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season in New York, the Spaniard Nadal also announced his absence on Friday, which, like Federer and Thiem, is synonymous with the end of the season.

In Flushing Meadows the way seems to be clear for Novak Djokovic to create the Grand Slam, equivalent to the titles in Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon and New York within a year. The Serb has already won the first three Grand Slam events in 2021.

The chances of Germany’s top player Alexander Zverev for his first Grand Slam title also increase due to the prominent trio’s cancellations. Last year, the Olympic champion in Flushing Meadows lost five sets against Thiem in a dramatic final.

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While Federer makes problems with the knee and Thiem with the wrist, Nadal has to pass due to a foot injury. “To be honest, I’ve been struggling with more problems with my foot for a year than is good and I just have to take a little time,” said the 35-year-old Spaniard.

Nadal’s mixed season

Nadal not only misses the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, but also the ATP Finals in London and the Davis Cup finals, the finals of which will again be played in Madrid.

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Nadal has had a mixed season in which he was repeatedly thrown back from injuries. At the Australian Open, the 20-time Grand Slam champion already finished in the quarterfinals, at the French Open he failed in the semifinals to Djokovic.

Already afterwards he complained of more severe pain in his foot and therefore decided not to participate in Wimbledon. After Nadal had not played at the Tokyo Olympics either, he last returned to the tour at the ATP tournament in Washington, but lost there in the round of 16 against the South African Lloyd Harris.

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