New Delhi, Debasis Sen: What exactly was the reason behind Rafael Nadal pulling himself out of the first rubber of the Davis Cup world group play off against India? Contradictory statements from the Spanish team management have only led to a mystery about Nadal’s unavailability in the first rubber against Ramkumar Ramanathan on Friday.
According to the statement communicated before the match, Nadal opted out due to a stomach bug, although he did come for the practice in the morning. But Nadal’s compatriot Feleciano Lopez came up with a completely different version. According to Lopez, Nadal did not wanted to take a risk with his wrist injury.Later after the second singles, Spanish Davis Cup captain Conchita Martinez addressed the media and contradicted Lopez by saying that he indeed had a stomach bug.
“He had a stomach ache after lunch. He was not feeling too well and we didn’t want to risk it. He is being taken care of by the doctor and it all depends on how he recovers. We will work with the doctor and only tomorrow we will know if he will be playing the doubles,” Martinez told reporters.
After being pressed by media again, she said: “It was definitely stomach bug. Wrist has been an issue but it has been progressing well.”
Earlier after the opening match, Lopez said that the team management was not sure of fielding Nadal for the first singles as he was still recovering from a wrist injury. It was decided a week ago that he might replace Nadal for the first singles.
“We knew during the week that I might play the tie instead of Rafa as he was not 100 per cent sure if he will be up to for the tie. We spoke last night about it and till the last moment he was not 100 per cent sure. So I had an idea so it wasn’t bothering me,” said Lopez, who turned up in place of Nadal and defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-1 to give Spain 1-0 lead over India in World Group play-off.
“Rafa has been struggling with his wrist for last 2-3 months, he didn’t want to take risk. We talked with the captain and decided it was the right decision that I should play. There is a good chance that he might play tomorow either with Marc or with me. We are confident that he will play this weekend.
“Rafa is okay, nothing serious. He didn’t have any stomach upset. He was playing in the US Open with the same wrist issue. It is getting better and better but still it is sometimes painful. We still have 2 days of competition. So he might play one of these days,” he added.
The RK Khanna stadium was choc a bloc as a 4000 strong capacity crowd turned up to see Nadal play his first competitive match in India. But the crowd was left disappointed to see him cheering his team mates from the reserve bench.