MELBOURNE – Rafael Nadal refused to use an injury as an excuse for his bitterly disappointing early exit from the Australian Open. Nadal appeared to injure his left hamstring in a drawn-out second game of the match and sought several medical timeouts to continue.
Nadal was not looking for excuses as he faced the media following his elimination and preferred instead to laud Ferrer’s performance rather than dwell on his injury misery. Nadal said had not seen a doctor but believed he may have a small muscle tear, adding that it did not appear to be serious. “I’ve got a small muscle tear,” he told Spanish journalists.
“I know that there’s something wrong, but I also know it’s not serious.” Nadal said he didn’t want to cultivate an image of blaming problems for his defeats. “For me it is difficult to come here and speak about tonight,” he said.”In Doha I wasn’t healthy. Today I have another problem. I seems like I always have problems when I lose, and I don’t want to have this image.
“I prefer not to talk about that today. If you can respect that, it will be a very nice thing for me. Thank you.”
