Rafael Nadal was one step away from winning his fourth title on the trot this season. However, Taylor Fritz, who had other plans, defeated the 21-time Grand Slam Champion in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells to record the biggest win of his career. Moreover, he did it in style, dispatching the Spaniard in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (5).

It was not easy going for Nadal in Indian Wells. He had to dig deep on several occasions to overpower his opponents. Additionally, he suffered the latest injury setback, which could rule him out for around four-six weeks.

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The 21-time Grand Slam champion admitted to having pain in his ribs, which led to difficulty in breathing. Recently, his doctor opened up on the Spaniard’s injury concerns.

Personal doctor of Rafael Nadal provides details of the Spaniard’s treatment

Talking about Nadal’s injury, his personal doctor, Dr. Cotorro, said, “We’re going to adapt the work in function of the pain. For now, priority is to remove the pain. Once the pain’s removed we’ll be working as much as we can. With this in mind & the evolution it has, we’ll see if we can shorten the time…4-6 weeks is quite logical.”

Besides the Miami Masters, Nadal will miss a large part of the clay-court season. Chiefly, he’ll miss the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.

These are the tournaments where Nadal has ruled over the years, winning the Monte-Carlo Masters on 11 occasions and the Barcelona Open 12 times. If Nadal fails to recover in time, it will also jeopardize his participation at the Madrid Open and the Italian Open.

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Nadal opened up on the pain he suffered during the tournament in the post-match press conference after the summit clash against Fritz.

He said, “I had pain. Honestly, it’s tough to, as I said, I have problems to breathe because I don’t know if it’s something on the rib. I am not sure yet, but when I am breathing and when I am moving, it’s like a needle all the time inside here. I get dizzy little bit because it’s painful.”

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While Nadal had already ruled himself out of the Miami Open, this injury will be a huge setback for him.