Rafael Nadal’s 36-year-old body is creaking. His Australian Open title defence came to a premature end as his hip hampered his movement and he lost in straight sets to Mackenzie McDonald after a medical time-out. It was a devastating defeat that left his wife in tears, but it certainly doesn’t mark the end of his time at the top.
For the last six years, Nadal’s injuries have threatened to end his career. But every time he comes back and proves he is still one of the top dogs on the circuit. It’s completely normal for a player of his age to go through so many injuries and eventually, his body will give up on him.
This latest hip issue is just his body letting him know that it is struggling. Add this to the abdominal injury that ruled him out of the Wimbledon semi-final last year and derailed the second half of his season, and it becomes difficult to ignore for the Spaniard.
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It isn’t normal to be this good for this long. Nadal turned professional at 15 and won his first French Open having just turned 19. He’s been at the very top of the sport for almost two decades, and his whole life has been dedicated to this gruelling sport. Set after set, shot after shot. I can’t move for three days if I play one set of tennis against an overweight 35-year-old. Imagine having to play five-hour matches against the best in the world for 20 years!
Nadal’s injury set-backs are only normal, but he still has the quality to compete for majors this year, if he can string together a month without injury. It seems to be after a decade of elite play, that top tennis stars begin to struggle. Roger Federer’s longevity was remarkable but even he won his last Grand Slam at 36 and was far more dominant in his younger years.
By 33, he was missing the French Open regularly in order to prolong his career and succeed at other events. The other member of the ‘big four’, Andy Murray, has had serious injury issues regarding his hip ever since he touched 30. He missed eight Grand Slam events out of 11 between 2018 and 2020 and hasn’t looked like the same player since.
The Australian Open win over Matteo Berrettini this year has proved there is life in the old dog yet, but still his body has experienced the wear and tear expected of a tennis player at his age. Federer carefully picked his battles as his career entered its twilight years. Nadal has been an imperious force, but he has been absent from 11 Grand Slams, and withdrawn from two of the last three majors due to injury issues.
It’s normal, sure, but there’s one man on the circuit who is anything but. Novak Djokovic. The nine-time Australian Open champion is a complete freak of nature.
Since he began his career in 2005, he has missed one Grand Slam through injury. One. Out of 68 major tournaments stretching from 2005 to the end of 2022, he has missed one due to injury.
An elbow issue forced him out of the US Open in 2017, but aside from that, he has been fighting fit at every tournament. It’s absolutely baffling. In 2022 he missed two Grand Slams, in Australia and the States due to his unvaccinated status, but he was still fit to play in both - and even infamously travelled to Australia in January.
Even though he is a year younger than Nadal, he’s played in one more Grand Slam tournament. It’s a remarkable record for the Serbian, one of the most impressive in the history of the sport. And he shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.
He’s 4/5 with Betfred to win his tenth Australian Open title and draw level with Nadal on 22 Grand Slam titles. 2023 could be the year an injury-free Djokovic surpasses him and puts himself into another stratosphere altogether.
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