Rafael Nadal ‘hurting’ ahead of Wimbledon as doubt cast on Novak Djokovic message
Rafael Nadal will be ‘hurting’, according to former British No 1 Andrew Castle, as Novak Djokovic threatens to pull away at the top of the all-time men’s Grand Slam charts. With Nadal missing Wimbledon due to injury, Djokovic has a golden opportunity to put major title number 24 on the board, which would surely leave him out of reach with his one remaining ‘Big Three’ rival approaching retirement.
As Nadal struggles to remain fit and healthy, Djokovic has clinched three of the last four available Grand Slam titles. He is fancied to make it four from five at Wimbledon, with Carlos Alcaraz deemed his only serious challenger over the next two weeks.
Victory at the French Open – Nadal’s favourite stomping ground – moved Djokovic one ahead of the Spaniard on 23 major triumphs. Nadal is expected to retire at the end of next season due to the injury woes that have forced him to sit out this year’s tournament at SW19.
Castle believes that the 37-year-old will be reeling as Djokovic continues to dominate, while he has also cast doubt on the sincerity of rivals congratulating one another on big wins, just like Nadal did after the French Open.
When asked by The Metro whether he thought Nadal would be hurting, the 59-year-old responded: “I do. It amuses me when somebody that used to hold a record no longer holds a record and everyone’s looking at their Twitter feed to see whether they send congratulations and how sincere it sounds.
“Make no mistake about it, Rafa will be looking at that and going, ’I want that [record] back, you know. Can we bring the French Open forward six months?’ They want the records. They’re fully aware of it.
