No excuses as Nadal's slam bid ends

The locker room at Melbourne Park was a somber place after the day’s second quarterfinal of the Australian Open had been completed. In one corner sat Rafael Nadal, his dreams of winning a fourth consecutive Grand Slam in ruins as a result of a thigh muscle injury at the beginning of the match. In the other was his good friend David Ferrer, trying to look happy at the thought of competing in the second Slam semifinal of his career against Andy Murray.

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Recap all the news and commentary from Melbourne during the Australian Open. Review the winner's paths by checking out the Men's singles draw and Women's singles draw.

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Ferrer had won 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, “But it is not the way I wanted to win, no?” said the popular little hustler who played far too well to allow the world No. 1 to hide the fact that his mobility was hopelessly impaired.

It appeared to be a hamstring problem which forced him to take an injury time out in the third game of the first set, following an incredible battle in the second game which had lasted 17 minutes and had gone to Ferrer. Nadal himself insisted he did not know exactly what it was but it was not so severe that he could not run.

It was just that being 70 or 80 percent against a player of Ferrer’s speed and tenacity is nowhere near good enough. Nadal knew that, but there was no way he was not going to finish the match. He had been forced to quit after two sets against Murray at the same stage — on exactly the same day of the tournament, in fact — here 12 months ago with a knee problem. “And I hated that,” he said.

So he kept battling on, watching the games and sets slip away, trying to shorten the points by charging in on suicide missions that would have been risky even against a player who passes less well than Ferrer. But he wasn’t going to quit. There were even moments of inspiration when he broke Ferrer’s serve at the beginning of the second set. But it was a fleeting act of defiance.

If there were signs from Toni Nadal, the uncle who has coached him since he was 4, that he should default, he ignored them. When a display of Australian Day fireworks brought a traditional 10-minute halt in play, he even waived away the ATP trainer who seemed to be trying to get him into the locker room for treatment. Nadal did leave the court eventually but only for two minutes.

While Nadal tried to fend off the inevitable questions in his press conference, Toni Nadal squeezed into the seat next to me. I asked him if he had wanted Rafa to quit. He smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. The Nadal clan is watertight in their loyalty to each other.

Rafa himself tried his best to turn away questions about the injury. “I can say nothing about the injury because I don’t know. Second thing, for respect for the winner and to a friend, I prefer to talk about the match. I think he played at a very high level. I just congratulate him and wish him all the best for the semifinal.”

But the questions kept coming and he was forced to make some reference to his situation. “I don’t have to tell you what I felt on court because I tried my best all the time. But is obvious I did not feel my best. I had a problem during the match, at the very beginning. For me is difficult to come here and speak about it. In Doha I wasn’t healthy. Today I have another problem. Seems like I always have problems when I lose and I don’t want to have this image, no? I prefer don’t talk about that today. If you can respect that, will be a very nice thing for me.”

The disappointment was etched in his features, but he has no illusions about his profession. “I have had really good moments and really negative moments,” he went on. “This is one of the negative ones. That’s part of sport. I think I am a very, very lucky sportsman about what happened in my career. And I have to accept the fantastic moments with the same calm as when I have problems. And if I am ready to accept both things with, let’s say, everything the same, I am going to be able to come back and play my best tennis another time.”

NADAL'S SLAM WINS

 

Follow Rafael Nadal's path to a Career Grand Slam beginning with the 2005 French Open.

 

Nadal’s English is not yet good enough, but it was a fair stab at Kipling. Meeting triumph and disaster and treating those two imposters just the same. He will have seen the quotation above the door in the Centre Court waiting room at Wimbledon and, being the man he is, and the way he has been brought up, he will be comfortable with it.

Ferrer, who won the ATP title in Auckland, New Zealand two weeks ago, remains unbeaten in 2011 and will take justifiable confidence into his match with Murray despite the fact that he lost to him in straight sets at the ATP World Finals in London in December.

“I know about Andy but every match is different,” he said. Earlier speaking of Nadal, he had said, “I could see Rafael could not run. I just focused on my game. It’s not normal that you beat Rafael in straight sets. It is a victory ... but not really a victory.”

And so a dream died.