Roger and Rafa era still alive: Wilander

Swedish legend Mats Wilander believes the the era of winning Grand Slams may be over for Rafael Nadal, but not the era of playing after the Spaniard announced his withdrawal from the US Open yesterday.

Nadal confirmed he would miss the US event and and the remainder of the season to recover from a niggling foot injury.

“We are getting used to expecting him to not be able to play all the time,” Wilander told Eurosport.

“He went to Washington to play and then Canada. He’s trying but he’s getting older and his body is taking a beating.

“But as long as he shows up and shows he wants to and that he’s actually physically trying he will keep coming back until one day when he absolutely cannot – but that seems top be in the future as so far the will seems still to be there.”

Wilander said he didn’t think it was the end of an era quite yet “but it might be the end of winning grand slam tournaments”.

“But with Rafa and Roland Garros and the love affair he has there, you can never say it’s the end of that relationship,” Wilander added.

“As for Federer, and Wimbledon, you’d think there’s a love story that’s still to be had and he can still do well there, but with the passing of every year you would give them less and less chance of winning a major.”

Peter Rowe

Recent Posts

Halep seething over Swiatek wrist-slap doping penalty

Doping sanction victim Simona Halep has gone online to protest her own treatment by anti-doping…

3 weeks ago

Nadal goes down in final match

Rafael Nadal lined up for what was to be the final match of his career…

1 month ago

Sinner flattens de Minaur in runaway home start

Jannik Sinner took charge in front of his home crowd on Sunday, crushing ATP Finals…

1 month ago

Madcap Medvedev suffers temperamental Turin Finals loss

Daniil Medvedev went into meltdown mode on Sunday during a highly charged 6-4, 6-3 loss, with opponent…

1 month ago

Team Sinner considering skipping Monte Carlo

Jannik Sinner could well be missing from the opening European clay event of next season…

1 month ago

Davis Cup Final to mark Nadal goodbye to tennis

Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his career next month as he plays his…

2 months ago