Rafa Nadal announced lately that he would be retiring soon.
Rafael Nadal withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open on the day of his Indian Wells first-round match, claiming on social media that he was not “ready to compete at the greatest level at such an important event.”
Rafael Nadal wrote, “Everyone knows how much I adore this area and how much I love to play here,” on X on Wednesday night. “There’s another reason; I came to the desert really early to practice and try to get ready.”
With great regret, I must announce that I will not be participating in this amazing Indian Wells event.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who has only played in 12 official matches since the 2022 US Open, was coming off a loss to fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s exhibition match in the Netflix Slam. He missed nearly the whole previous season due to a hip condition that required surgery, but he returned briefly to the field for three games in early January before rupturing a muscle near the hip. That forced him to miss the Australian Open, and he hasn’t been on tour since.
As you are all aware, I took a test this past weekend. Despite my best efforts and preparation, I don’t think I’m ready to play at my best in such an important tournament, Nadal stated in his piece. “I can’t lie to myself or the hundreds of people who support me—this is not an easy choice; in fact, it’s a difficult one. I am sure the competition will be a great success, and I will really miss all of you.
12d
Rafael Nadal, 37, traveled to the California desert before the hard-court match. After that, he went to Las Vegas to perform Alcaraz for a sell-out crowd of 9,489 people.
“We are disappointed that Rafa is unable to play in the BNP Paribas Open, but we wish him continuous recuperation and hope he can be back in action again soon,” said tournament director Tommy Haas in a statement. “We want to see him return to Indian Wells in the near future. Here, he is among the all-time crowd favorites.
Nadal’s place in the draw was taken by lucky loser Sumit Nagal, who will face 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic on Thursday night.
Diana Kasatkina’s match to begin her US Open 2023 fourth-round campaign was just seconds away. She was now one win away from making her major league debut in the quarterfinals after performing excellently in her first three games. But Aryna Sabalenka, the second-ranked player in the world, got in her way.
Kasatkina knew there would be a lot of eyes on her and that the stakes were high as she approached ESPN’s Rennae Stubbs for her pregame interview. She hesitated when Stubbs asked how she prepared for a night match.
“Well, to be honest,” Kasatkina remarked solemnly. “I think this is the best way to advertise my YouTube channel; yesterday, we thought about it nonstop.”
She then turned to face the camera after saying that.
Please press the subscribe button, guys. If you simply search for my last name on YouTube, you can find it there. In the unlikely event that the game is uninteresting, you may always watch YouTube.
In reality, there wasn’t much excitement in the match; Kasatkina lost to Sabalenka 6-1, 6-3. But the interview went viral and did bring her companion Natalia Zabiiako’s “What the Vlog” YouTube channel a lot of attention. Former pair figure skater Natalia finished second in the Olympic team competition in 2018. To many seeing the event, the deed would have seemed like a transparent advertisement for yet another aspiring influencer, but to those who knew her background, it might have been revolutionary. or brave, perhaps even revolutionary.
Even with the occasional shoutout, Kasatkina’s account has more than just sponsored content, despite her success as a tennis player during the day. 26-year-old Kasatkina comes out as LGBT during a time when few Russians feel comfortable coming out as gay. Despite the Russian Supreme Court’s recent declaration of the “international LGBT movement” as an “extremist organization,” Kasatkina and Zabiiako continue to document their lives together by taking the WTA Tour and displaying their undying love around the globe.
Their channel has received over 41,000 followers, 134 videos, and over 100,000 views on several occasions. Their compilation episode of the US Open had over 200,000 views.
“We’re getting a lot of response from Russia, from people who are struggling right now and who are in this awful position and cannot do anything about it,” Kasatkina, who has also condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said to ESPN this month. Furthermore, some people assert that our blog is currently the only source of inspiration for them. “I recently discovered your channel and watched every video in just two days,” said someone. I truly benefit from being alive right now. It’s charming. It’s really touching. To be honest, we weren’t expecting this response at all, so it’s unexpected.
