It is official - David's right leg injury is not just a strain but a 3mm muscle tear that will require seven to ten days to heal.
This means that David will not only miss tonight's quarterfinal match at the Copa Telmex, but also next week's tournament in Acapulco and the Davis Cup tie against Sweden.
Sources: Reuters (thanks, Tim) and Telam.
A few more photos from the match against Gimeno-Traver and also from the post-match press conference have been added on the photo page.
Update
According to David's official website, he will return at Indian Wells (thanks, Noubar).
Apparently with a wildcard.
Update II
Some quotes about David, his injury and the current situation...
Walter Mira (tournament doctor)
"He will have to rest for two or three days and he'll be fine again in seven to ten."
"I think that it will take only little time to heal."
"What we were able to do with the ultrasound scan today was to measure the size of the injury, a 3mm tear in the adductor muscle, which is still just a small injury. But it was also clear that the pain caused by it increased between yesterday and today, making it impossible for him to play."
"He will have to do physiotherapy. A couple of days of rest. He's getting treatment now. We're going to do another ultrasound scan soon. And then he'll be able to make plans about how long he has to pause and how he will continue after that."
Bernardo Ballero (David's spokesman)
"Today, he woke up in more pain than he had went he went to bed last night and somehow the injury was worse than before. The edema turned out to be bigger on the ultrasound scan and therefore he made the decision to pull out of this tournament and the next in Acapulco."
"He's trying to deal with this as calmly as possible in order to then focus on the American hard-court events in Indian Wells and Miami."
(Photos: Marcelo Carroll/Olé)
(Sources: La Nacion and Agencia Nova)
28 comments:
Wow, that's really disappointing. I mean I expected him to pull out of Buenos Aires, but not Acapulco.
That's worst than I expected :(
I knew this was comming, plus no points to defend in Acapulco, and Davis cup, i didn't want him to play under any cirumstance, and he did well in Copa telmex, 2 match was more than we thought he can do.
BUT not paricipating at Indian wells or Miami, i mean that is the disappointing thing, which am not sure he will do that.
Pitty for the points, but it's understandable, he can't risk the injury becoming a tear.
As i said in another post, His doctor (Cotorro) din't want him playing here: he didn't want him coming back on clay. But it's his country's ATP. For once I'd love David to be more like Del Potro, who gives a damn about Argentina or the ATP here and the Davis. As John said in other post, he had indoor tournaments to choose but he played here. We didn't know about his doctor not wanting to play on clay...
Well, let's look ahead (or try)
i just have 1 question, from where this IW/Miami thing started, that he may no be there, david didn't mention anything about that? wuts the source of this conflict?
plus if not being in IW was to not rush into things by playing many matches in a row, he is out of Mexico and Sweden, dont u think American hard court masters is the ideal thing ?
Apparently, the injury is a tear, though smaller than the one he got in Auckland. On the other hand, the abdominal tear still allowed him to train while this might be difficult with the new injury...
And David playing an indoor event instead of the Copa Telmex simply won't happen. He made some small and I thought clever changes to his schedule in the last years (like Queen's instead of Halle). But he'll always play in Buenos Aires. Even if it's unwise. But that's his priority.
(For the record, I was almost tempted to call today's post 'Don't cry for me Argentina'...)
Noubar, the whole problem with IW simply is that his name isn't on the entry list. But he could still get a wildcard. And whether it's ideal to return at a Masters - probably not. But by now I'm thinking he'll probably want to take any chance he'll get to play.
And Anna, I agree. Let's try to look ahead. Though it may seem difficult today.
thanks 4 making it clear about IW, hope he get a wild card and play, am sure they will give him when he asks for it,they have great respect for david,they know his capabilities, and that he will add a special interest and flavour to the tour, and thats what every tournament searches for.
Julia, The Nalbandian official website says his reappearance will be at Indian wells.
Thanks, Noubar. :) So he'll apparently get a wildcard, after all.
Well, the sun did come up this morning, although I can't see it since it's snowing lightly. But Anna is right, let's look ahead. The injury is a minor one. And now, at least, we don't have to worry about David attempting to play DC. He needs matches though, so I hope he plays Indian Wells and Miami. Ah, just saw Noubar's post. Good, good.
Question: when will we know if he gets the wild card? (I mean when they have to give the complete list) The time to use the PR is gone, right?
We'll know for sure when the wildcards for IW are announced. This will happen in the coming weeks but there's nothing like a fixed date for it. And yes, it's too late for using his protected ranking. (Had he used it, he'd be on the entry list, like Ancic, who used his.)
In Auckland he became a tear, before playing the first round. In Buenos Aires he became it in his second match. And In Indian Wells maybe in the 3. or 4. round or maybe earlier, when he of course wins the matches before. But I wish the best for David because he is my favourite player.
Frustrated! :( Tough day for me with both of my favorite players. It looks like I'll have to wait for Indian Wells to see either of them play.
I can't wait for Indian Wells. :) He has certainly played well when he has been able to play. There is a silver lining on the clouds.
I'm really sorry to hear the news. Speedy recovery David.
Jenny, I've tried to leave a message in your mailbox over on TP but my posts won't go through...
Well, after the second heavy rain and flood, the QF and SF must be played the same day...
Between the rain and suspension and the lack of names (and the prices!) the tournament seem to have lost his appeal. The public is not showing up like before. They only showed for David. Don't know what will happen in the finale...
One question, maybe Tamar will know, I heard Jaite was going to make "the night of the champions" some reunion or similar with all the champions from these 10 years, is this still up? And if it is, David will show up?
I'm kinda depressed here: with the flood, the horrible weather and the boring and predictable tennis (sorry but Ferrer-Andreev are playing and they show on tv Monaco-Zeballos! I don't care if they're argentine) I miss David soooooo much! Still with the two matches on the same day and the haevy court, that probably would have caused troubles David. Good thing he made sense and pulled out the tournament. But still... all the matches were so boring (without even taking David in consideration)...
Anna 100%, couldn't agree more.
u know they say, everything happens for a reason, maybe this was good for david, the order of play being troubled, and the rain messing up things.
and i know there are a lot of Argentines out there, no one is even close to david, not even when they are at their best, i mean Zeballos, with all my respect, he has nothing special, just ball returners like everyone, there is noway to enjoy a match like dat, with dave there is the passion, the talent, the attack, dave will trash any one of these guys with his 3 mm tear stuck on him, he is just the unluckiest tennis player of all time.
The whole tournament, everything was designed to make the Copa Telmex David's big show. From the prime time slot in the night sessions to the press writing about nothing but David's comeback, as if the other player didn't even exist. It was supposed to be David's tournament. But that also meant a lot of pressure for him, of course. And it's no surprise that he thought he had to finish his match. No matter what...
Anna, I don't know if there'll be a celebration like that. Or if David will attend it. And I haven't heard anything from Tamar. I'd think he'd go back home as soon as possible. We'll see...
You know, I'm not sure this was suppoused to be "his" tournament. They used David's comeback as promotion, the biggest atraction and the people wanted to see him, but I don't think Jaite thought David could win this. David himself said he was happy with playing a couple of matches, not even thinking about winning. The huge pressure was in 2008 because he won the MS in 2007 and Jaite was his coach. Now? I think it was more the big attraction of David coming back, than David as a candidate to win. The prime time was always for David in the Telmex.
Today they made play Monaco-Zeballo (boooooring) at the central court and what it seemed to be a very interesting match like Ferrer (1st seed)- Andreev on a court without tv. They also treated better Monaco than better players like Ferrero.
The thing in that match with david was the crowd's behaviour when they saw David was injured and was trying to play. They went nuts and started screaming like crazy showing their support. David loves playing here. he'd never leave a match here. Good thing he understood he couldn't play the next match, because once playing? No way he'd retire here
It wasn't really about whether they expected David to win the whole thing in the end. Jaite and his team probably didn't. But still, they really did their best to make sure that the tournament was all about David's comeback. And of course they also did that because they knew that people would want to see David play, that he would pull big crowds for each of his matches.
I just think that David loves to be the people's champion. He wants to be their hero. And that's why he'd never retire during a match in front of his home crowd if he can so much as stand on his two feet. And it's also why DC is so important to him.
And that's also why playing the US Masters events should, in a way, be easier for him. On a surface he feels comfortable playing on. And without the added pressure of having to be the local hero...
Hi Julia
I'm sorry you weren't able to leave a message, it happens sometimes there. Try one of the other threads.
Oh, I thought you meant Jaite & Co promoted this tournament with David as candidate in his comeback.
David talked about his love for the DC one time. It was a special show called ESPN Estudio, in 2007 (when he was with his back injury) where a very relaxed David talked for two hours and they showed images of his town, his home, his past and all his family and friends talked about him. It was heaven... pity ESPN made Youtube take down the clips for copyright. Well, there he said his most happy times where playing some juvenil tournament where they participate as team. Each team represented one state. And they played against each other. Very similar to the DC (his words). And also I know he followed the David since he was a kid, when we weren't in the world group but waaaaaaayyyyy down. Today players like Del Potro and others watched the DC since kids but they seem take for granted that we would be there (world team) the next year, or that if we lose the final one year we can reach it the next one. Or the fact that they don't care about the Telmex, and they don't show any support for the ATP of Argentina. Forgetting we lost the tournament one time, and we got it back with a lot of effort. Players like David and the older public, know how much it cost to be at the top of the DC and what the Telmex means. I remember David playing all the points when the DC wasn't that popular here (early 2003 for example).
And he feels the pressure of playing here (for DC or Telmex) but in a good way. Let aside this year with his situation. Other players are nervous, can't handle the situation(like Chela at the DC, for example. Or what Del Potro did and does with the DC). But him, it gives strength. Wich is weird for a player that likes to have the crowd against him, like he confessed (another reason for the DC as visitant).
Well, the comments are, they're trying to change the surface for the next year and make it hard.
By the way, some here has that show, the ESPN Estudio of 2007? I'd love to have it because I couldn't record it and all the videos are down :(. Maybe someone could upload. It's in spanish, of course, but it shows a different David.
guyz, here is a youtube video i made 4 david
non-tennis related slideshow, most pictures from Julis's blog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESqJuZc0M54
and dont forget to rate it 5 stars lol
Very cool video, Noubar! I just gave you 5 star rating. I don't know how long it takes for those ratings to appear though. I had never seen the Ping Pong photo with Rafa before.
Bleacher Report has released a couple of great articles on David:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/347298-always-a-bridesmade-nalbandian-or-dementieva
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/349036-david-nalbandian-vs-roger-federer-will-there-be-part-2-in-the-rivalry
Jenny, I tried... But the other threads wouldn't work, either. Some other day, I guess.
Anna, I know which show you mean. I saw part of it on YouTube before it was taken down again. And yeah, that was a shame because it really was a great interview. I was also hoping someone might upload it again...
Noubar, it's nice to see the pics from the Photo Archives being put to good use. :) Apart from the ones with Rafa, I also like the one with Messi. (I'm a Barca fan.)
Great video, Noubar. I'm giving you 5 Stars. Hey Tim, those articles on Bleacher Report were great. Thanks for the tip. Bleacher Report is a good site. Watched some of Ferrer v Ferrero yesterday, but found it boring. So right, Anna.
Post a Comment