Shame for the tournaments: Andy Murray on Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from Wimbledon and Tokyo Olympics

Andy Murray feels it is a shame for the tournaments that a player of Rafael Nadal’s stature has withdrawn from Wimbledon Championships and Tokyo Olympics. Nadal decided to pull out of the two major events after he discussed the same with his team and stated that he needed to manage his workload and listen to his body.

The Spaniard has been troubled by knee problems since 2019. The southpaw was recently defeated at favorite French Open by the eventual winner Novak Djokovic. Nadal went down after 4 hours and 11 minutes in an epic four-set clash against his arch-rival, which ended his dominance at the Roland Garros.

In fact, Nadal had faced some lower back issues before the Australian Open. He was able to make it to the quarterfinal of the first slam of the year but was beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas after being two sets up. Subsequently, Nadal decided to pull out of some events as he wanted to be at his best for the French Open.

“Yeah, it’s still like this year is hard. With the bubbles and everything, you know, you need to be right into it and be prepared to sort of go through that for – a lot of the players are finding it difficult,” said Murray in his post match interview.

“Obviously it’s a shame, shame for him, shame for the tournaments,” said Murray.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal will look to make a solid comeback after taking some rest. The Spaniard is expected to return for the US Open which will take place later in the year.

On the other hand, Andy Murray was beaten by Italy’s Matteo Berrettini by 6-3, 6-3 in the Round of 16 in the Queen’s Club Championships.