Wrist Injury Forces Rafael Nadal Out of Two U.S. Open Tuneups Rafael Nadal’s prospects of repeating last year’s remarkable run on North American hardcourts were dealt a significant blow Tuesday when he injured his right wrist in practice. Nadal, the defending champion at the United States Open, announced that his wrist needed to be immobilized in a cast, which will force him to miss two Open tuneup events: Toronto next week and Cincinnati the week after. Nadal is also the defending champion at those tournaments.“ After the tests I have undergone today in Spain, including an M.R.I., and checking with my doctors, I will have to stay out of competition for at least two to three weeks,” Nadal said in a statement distributed by the Cincinnati Masters. Nadal plays left-handed and uses his right hand only for his backhand and to toss the ball for his serve. But wrist injuries, whichare becoming increasingly endemic in professional tennis, can occur on a player’s dominant or nondominant side.Nadal at Wimbledon this month. He injured his nondominant wrist Tuesday in practice.FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA / EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY Dr. Richard Berger, an orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic who specializes in wrist operations, operated on the nondominant wrist of Juan Martín del Potro, his left, this spring.“ Even if somebody is using a two-handed backhand, there is still a dominance of one hand during the swing,” Berger said in an interview in April. “That one-handedness during the swing is probably a point of vulnerability in the tennis player, much more so than in the other sports, where you’ve got both hands working equally on whatever it is that you’re swinging.” Nadal flew to Barcelona from his training base in Majorca for tests of his wrist, which revealed “a small disinsertion of the posterior ulnar pod of his right wrist.” Nadal’s camp said in a statement that his return for competition was “initially scheduled for the U.S. Open,” which begins Aug. 25. But if Nadal has to wear a cast for three weeks, he would not have much time to prepare for the Open. He has not played at a hardcourt tournament since March. If Nadal is unable to play at the United States Open, it will be the second time in his career that an injury has prevented him from defending a Grand Slam title. In 2009, knee issues forced him to miss Wimbledon, where he had won the fifth of his 14 major titles the year before. Similar issues with his knees also forced him out of the 2012 United States Open and the 2013 Australian Open. After those setbacks, however, he was able to achieve some of the best hardcourt results of his career last year. He reclaimed the No. 1 ranking in October and held it for 39 weeks before Novak Djokovic overtook him by winning Wimbledon in July. Nadal, currently ranked No. 2, has not played on tour sincelosing in the fourth round of Wimbledon to the wild card Nick Kyrgios. Despite considerable successes on all surfaces during his career, Nadal has never successfully defended a title on any surface but clay. Source: The New York Times.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:10:44 +0000