Rafael Nadal has been playing with a strapped abdomen at Wimbledon but he refused to provide any details regarding a potential injury as he is “tired” of speaking about health problems.
The past year hasn’t been easy for Nadal health-wise, having battled chronic foot pain and a rib stress fracture.
After winning the French Open, Nadal underwent a foot treatment in Spain – which was a success and the Spaniard was able to make his first Wimbledon appearance since 2019.
“I am a little bit tired to talk about my body,” Nadal said, per Tennishead. “It’s not about that I don’t want to answer your question, but in the same time sometimes I am tired about myself, all the issues that I am having. I prefer to not talk about that now. Sorry for that. But I am in the middle of the tournament and I have to keep going, no? All respect for the rest of the opponents. I am just trying my best every single day. For the moment I am healthy enough to keep going and fight for the things that I want.”
Nadal through to the Wimbledon quarterfinal
On Monday, Nadal saw off Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 6-2 7-6 (6) to progress into the Wimbledon quarterfinal.
Nadal was up by two sets and had a 5-2 lead in the third set but then failed to serve out for the match in the ninth game as van de Zandschulp forced a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Nadal realized his fourth match point to complete a straight-set win.
“Yeah, have been a good match in general terms against a difficult player,” Nadal said. “I think a very good player,” I was 6-4, 6-2, 5-2. This result says that I was playing, doing a lot of things very well. Yeah, happy for that. Is true that at the end I played a bad game with the 5-3, then you are in trouble, no? 90% of the match I think I played well.”
Nadal plays Taylor Fritz next.