Bad news from Rafael Nadal that had to withdraw from the semifinals in Paris before facing Shapovalov because of an injury.
The Spanish sensation was in great form in France and he was trying to win the last ATP1000 of the season to secure his year-end world no.1 rank. Unfortunately, things got an extremely bad turn a few hours before Rafa’s final as the Spaniard suffered from a problem to his abdominal when he was serving.
Nadal explains his injury to his abdominal
Nadal announced his retirement during a press conference to comment:
“In one of the last serves of the warm-up, I felt something in the abdominal. And immediately I came back to the doctor here to do the echography and to check with the doctor, and the doctor told me that we need to wait a little bit more.
So I waited for one hour and a half more to do a second test. And we did it, we saw something on the image, probably a small strain.”
Then Nadal added:
“We can call it unlucky, we can call it different things, but it happened today. And when things happen, the only thing that you can do is accept it. And even if it’s a tough situation for me, I need to stay positive.
Finishing out like this is always a very negative thing, but the rest of the things of the week have been very positive. I enjoyed a lot playing here in Bercy, after a while without being able to enjoy this atmosphere in this amazing stadium, and I enjoyed playing good tennis.
I have played three great matches, and I have been enjoying a lot being on court. So it’s tough finish like this, this event. That’s it. I need to accept [that] and recover well mentally and physically from that.”
"We saw something on the image, probably a small strain."
–@RafaelNadalRafa speaks about the injury that forced him to pull out of his semifinal just moments before the match.#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/lZKTYkwnmV
— TENNIS (@Tennis) November 2, 2019
Rafa is racing with Djokovic for the world no.1. The Spaniard will be at the top of the rankings from Monday, but with the Serbian in Final in Paris, his advantage over Nole will diminish to 640 points if the Serb wins the title. This means that Rafa needs to compete and have a decent run at the Finals to secure the world on.1 rank by the end of the year. During the press conference, Nadal confirmed that his biggest goal will be to get ready to London to comment: “I hope to be ready for London. That’s the biggest goal right now.”
"We saw something on the image, probably a small strain."
–@RafaelNadalRafa speaks about the injury that forced him to pull out of his semifinal just moments before the match.#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/lZKTYkwnmV
— TENNIS (@Tennis) November 2, 2019
Shapovalov in the final and his live rankings
With Rafa out, Denis Shapovalov got a free ticket to the Final. The Canadian is in exceptional form and he is now no.15 in the live rankings (career-high). Shapovalov faced Djokovic 3 times this year and he managed to win only 1 set so far against the world no.1
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, the Spaniard played his last match would have been on the 2nd of November but he had to concede a walkover to Denis Shapovalov in the semifinal in Paris.
This year Rafael has a 50-6 win-loss record. The Spaniard has won 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. Rafael was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Shapovalov in Paris, ranking, and results in 2019
Ranked no.28, Denis has a 33-24 win-loss record in 2019. The Canadian is currently playing in Paris where he beat Gilles Simon 2-2 ret., Fabio Fognini 3-6 6-3 6-3, Alexander Zverev 6-2 5-7 6-2, Gael Monfils 6-2 6-2 and Rafael Nadal w/o.
Denis will take on Djokovic in the final. The head to head is 3-0 for Djokovic.
The last time that they squared off, Djokovic won 6-3 6-3 in the 2nd round in Shanghai on the 09th October 2019.
Shapovalov clinched 1 title in 2019 in Stockholm.
Rafael Nadal and Denis Shapovalov played each other 2 times. The head to head is 1-1.
