Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal announced in an unexpected press conference on Friday from Roland Garros that he has withdrawn from the French Open due to a wrist injury.
Nadal, who has won the tournament a record nine times, cruised through his first two rounds of the tournament earlier this week, looking healthy and confident. However, he revealed on Friday that he played his second-round match with an injection to mask the pain in the wrist of his left hand (his racket hand).
"We tried to do all the treatments possible, every single day, working so hard to try and play," Nadal said. "Yesterday I played with an injection in the wrist with an antiseptic to [numb] the wrist to play."
At his press conference, wearing a wrap around his wrist, Nadal said that pain in his left wrist had increased and and that he was withdrawing because did not want to risk tearing his wrist, a more serious injury.
Nadal said wrist pain is ongoing, has tried to manage it. Played with an injection in his wrist yesterday. Last night, had more pain.
- Tom Perrotta (@TomPerrotta) May 27, 2016Nadal said he would risk a tear in his wrist if he kept playing and says he played last round with a pain-killing injection
- Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) May 27, 2016"9 times in my career I've been able to be healthy here and win this tournament. Now is a tough moment. But it's not the end."-Nadal #RG16
- Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) May 27, 2016Nadal's early exit presents a massive opportunity for world no. 1 Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has never won the French Open, and with Roger Federer and Nadal both now out of the draw, the biggest challenge standing between Djokovic and the Career Grand Slam will be Andy Murray.