“This is not good news and I did not expect this,” Nadal tweeted. “I am disappointed and sad because after such a good start of the season, I was coming to a very important part of the year with very good feelings and good results. But hey, I’ve always had that fighting and overcoming spirit and what I will do is be patient and work hard [to recover].”
Hola todos, quería anunciaros que he vuelto a España y fui enseguida a visitar a mi equipo médico para hacerme las pruebas tras la final de Indian Wells que jugué con molestias.
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) March 22, 2022
Angel Ruiz Cotorro, his physician, told Spanish publication Marca in a statement that Nadal had injured the “left third costal arch” on the lower part of the rib cage and the “estimated time of sports leave is four to six weeks.” The French Open, which Nadal has won 13 times, is scheduled to begin May 22.
Nadal had complained of breathing difficulties during the Indian Wells semifinal and took two medical timeouts. He took two more during the final, the first after he lost the first set. Nadal went inside with a trainer after tapping his upper left chest and later got treatment on the court after falling behind 5-4 in the second set.
“When I’m breathing, when I’m moving, it’s like a needle all the time inside,” he said via Yahoo after the final. “I get dizzy a little bit because it’s painful. It’s a kind of pain that limits me a lot. It’s not only about pain — I don’t feel very well because it affects my breathing.”
Nadal previously decided to skip this week’s Miami Open and return to Spain to focus on recovering for the clay-court season. After Sunday’s final, he was determined to find out what was ailing him.
“Now is the moment to try to solve this problem as soon as possible, try to start on clay,” he said. “The thing that worries me is about what’s going on there, what I have to do now to recover and how long it’s going to take.”