Spaniard limped to defeat in Rome and faces fight to be fit for French Open after years of pushing his body to the limit
For nearly the entirety of his two-decade career, Rafael Nadal has been a picture of calm on the tennis court. Nobody has endured as many moments of abject tension in the final rounds of the biggest tournaments yet navigated them while betraying so few negative emotions, shrugging off mistakes and despair, remaining steadfastly positive.
But on Thursday night in Rome, for once his emotions were written all over his face. As he limped and grimaced around the court, barely able to run during his loss to Denis Shapovalov, he continually looked up at his team in the stands. He shook his head, he cursed his bad luck and he spent moments at the change of ends with his head buried in his hands.