Moments after his first round win at the US Open, Rafael Nadal described the timing of Andy Murray’s withdrawal from the draw as ‘strange.’
On Saturday the former world No.1 announced that he will be skipping the final grand slam of the season due to a hip injury. Murray hasn’t played a competitive match since Wimbledon, but did travel to America to prepare for the US Open.
“It’s too sore for me to win the tournament and ultimately that’s what I was here to try and do,” he said about the withdrawal.
Murray’s decision occurred the day after the men’s draw took place. As a consequence, second seed Roger Federer was left in Nadal’s section. Meaning that the two players could face each other in the semifinals and not the final. Speaking about the timing of the announcement, top seed Nadal said he was baffled by it.
“I always thought that he gonna be playing if he was here practicing, no? Was a little bit strange that he retired just the morning after the draw was made.” He said.
“It was something that is a little bit strange and difficult to understand, but the worst thing is he is not healthy and I wish him a very fast recovery.”
Elaborating further, Nadal said players normally ‘keep practising’ until the first day of the tournament before withdrawing.
“Strange? Yeah, of course. Because normally when you retire on — was Saturday morning? And the draw was made Friday? Normally you want to keep practicing, keep trying until the last moment. You don’t retire Saturday morning. You retire Monday morning or Sunday afternoon, not Saturday morning.”
Nadal’s comments have been greeted with some critical responses on social media. At the 2009 Wimbledon championships the Spaniard withdrew from the draw a day after due to knee problems.
So much for thinking the Wimbledon 2009 no. 1 seed who w/drew after the draw would understand better than anyone … https://t.co/fsP4Aj09kT https://t.co/w2pdG40v9c
— Steven (@GBtennis) 29 August 2017
During Nadal’s Press conference, where he made the comments, he was not questioned about his past Wimbledon withdrawal.
