New York. Toni Nadal once described his nephew as the “World Champion of Pain”. For more than 20 years the uncle was also the coach of the Mallorcan tennis matador.
He has witnessed the 17-times Grand Slam Champion struggling with ever new injuries, often more than with the toughest opponents. “There hasn’t been a day in Rafa’s career when pain wasn’t an issue,” said the former coach this summer, on the fringes of a visit to the French Open.
Friday evening, at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, a new chapter in this tale of suffering was added, one of the bitterest: after one and a half outstanding US Open weeks, with both dramatic and emaciating victories, Nadal’s body struck just before the finish line, just before the possible fourth title in the Big Apple.
“I hate to give up,” said Nadal after sobering up at the end of the second set, 6-7 (3) and 2-6 against Juan Martin del Potro from Argentina. Still on Wednesday Nadal had fought four hours and 49 minutes against the Austrian Dominic Thiem for the victory, the game ended only at 2 o’clock in the morning.
Now del Potro, himself tormented by injuries and wounds for years, is fighting Novak Djokovic for the New York title. The Serb played loosely, casually and easily at 6:3, 6:4 and 6:2 against Japan’s ace Kei Nishikori in his eighth final in New York. He can now land the summer double, wins in Wimbledon and at the US Open.
For del Potro, this is the second final push after the turbulent rollercoaster ride of his career. Nine years ago, he sensationally made the tennis king of New York – with a final coup against Roger Federer. After that, however, his body slowed him down; the giant had had to endure four wrist operations alone.
“It feels really good to be back in the final of my favorite tournament. There were moments when I no longer believed in it,” said del Potro. In the final he is regarded as an outsider against the form-strong “Djoker”, who could crown his comeback after a temporary crash and crisis of meaning.
Once again it was tendonitis in his right knee that stopped Nadal and prevented him from defending his title in the last major tournament of the 2018 season. “There’s no point in continuing a match in which one player plays normally. And the other one just stands there,” Nadal said later.
Long before the actual withdrawal Nadal had already resigned himself internally, already in the middle of the second set he signaled to the referee the task to come with the words: “You have just made a wrong decision there, but it doesn’t matter either. I’m quitting anyway.”
The 32-year-old had already experienced a similar drama at the Australian Open at the beginning of the season, when he had to give up in the fifth set of his quarter-final against the Croatian Marin Cilic due to a hip injury. “It’s frustrating when you have to stop like this. You can’t put that away so easily,” said Nadal, who now for the tenth time could not continue a match until the normal end.
Del Potro, however, the profiteer of Nadal’s Malaise, could sympathise like no other with the frustration of the Spaniard: Due to his own injury problems, he missed no less than half of all Grand Slam tournaments between 2010 and 2017 – 14 out of 28 majors. “It’s really not nice to win like this,” said del Potro, “I know how Rafa is now.”