Nadal and his chest pain: Breathing is as if there is a needle inside

Indian Wells (USA), 20 Mar Rafa Nadal, who lost the Indian Wells final this Sunday to American Taylor Fritz, detailed after the match the physical chest problems he suffered during the match and that prevent him from breathing normally. “All I can say is that breathing is hard for me. I don't know, when I try to breathe it's painful and very uncomfortable,” he explained to reporters. “I don't know if it's something in the ribs, I don't know yet. When I breathe and when I move, it's like I have a needle in it all the time. It makes me feel a little dizzy because it's painful. It's a kind of pain that limits me a lot. It's not just because of the pain: I don't feel very well because it affects my breathing,” he added. However, Nadal urged that the conversation today at Indian Wells should not be about him and his troubles but rather about Fritz's great victory 6-3 and 7-6 (5) in two hours and 6 minutes. “It's not the time to talk about this, honestly. Even if it's obvious I couldn't do normal things today. It's a final. I tried. I lost to a great player. It's not the day to talk about what's going on with me. It's his day and we don't need to hide that in my comments,” he developed. Nadal's chest pains, who also suffers from discomfort in his left foot, began on Saturday during his epic semifinal in Indian Wells of more than three hours against fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Already in the final against Fritz, Nadal twice asked the medical services to help him with his chest pains and was not comfortable at any time on the track. “Honestly, I'm sad because I wasn't able to compete,” he said. This is the Spaniard's first defeat in 2022 after an exceptional run of 20 straight matches winning and three more trophies in his showcase (Australian Open, Melbourne and Acapulco). Nadal is now leaving the hard court tournaments to focus on the clay court season, his great specialty and which he faces with great enthusiasm. “The only thing that worries me right now is what is going on there (in my chest), what I have to do to recover and how long it will take,” he said. CHIEF dvp/pos (photo)