The 22-time Grand Slam winner and former longtime world number one met Australian Jordan Thompson (ATP 55) in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament. Nadal lost to his opponent 7:5, 6:7 (6), 3:6 in a match that lasted almost three and a half hours. In the second set the Spaniard missed three match points.
During the match, however, his hip began to hurt and in the decisive set lost 1:4 he took a medical break. After the match, Nadal could not say how serious the injury was and how it might affect his participation in the Australian Open starting Jan. 14.
“I hope to have the chance to train and play in Melbourne next week,” the tennis ace told the BBC. “To be honest, I’m not 100% sure about anything right now. We’ll see in the next few days how I feel. If it’s bad, you need to do some tests.”
“The muscle is tired. The feeling is not at all the same as last year, because then I immediately felt something drastic,” Nadal recalled last year’s Australian Open, which was his last tournament last season. “The only problem is that the place (in the tree) is the same. It’s a little scarier than usual. In an ideal world, the muscle would simply be a little tired after several days of exertion.”
Thompson, a Nadal supporter, will meet Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, ranked 14th in the world, in the semi-finals of the Brisbane tournament starting at 12.30pm today. The winner will meet the Danish Holger Rune (ATP 8th) in the final, who in the semifinal got the better of Roman Safiullin (ATP 39th) with a score of 6:4, 7:6 (0).
Roosuvori warms up Hoos
At the ATP 250 category tournament in Hong Kong, Finnish number one Emil Ruusuvori (69th ATP), who reached the final, shows a good game. The Finn defeated Austrian Sebastian Ofner (ATP 43rd) in the semifinals with a score of 4:6, 7:5, 6:3. The meeting lasted two hours and 13 minutes.
Ruusuvuor’s opponent will be determined in the semifinals, where the fifth world player Andrei Rublev and the Chinese Juncheng Shang (ATP 183) will face each other.
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2024-01-06 10:22:35
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