Djokovic injured his elbow. With Nadal always absent, the future is uncertain for the kings of tennis

Updates for the aficionados: given that Roger Federer no longer plays (and unfortunately we know this and we are processing it), we are also aware of Rafael Nadal’s absence from the tennis courts (said in Spanish…) and, now, also of Novak Djokovic’s physical uncertainties.

What happens? Ok, let’s go step by step and try to understand something more.

Let’s start from Nadal: the Spaniard in this 2023 boasts only one victory, against Jack Draper in Melbourne but more importantly, he hasn’t played since his subsequent loss to Mackenzie McDonald. We were in mid-January. We are now in mid-April. The people from Montecarlo were waiting for him, and Rafa said to him “But how does it come to your mind?”. As David Ferrer, director of the Barcelona Open, hoped it would be, where they also gave him a track, a field indeed. But no way. Feliciano Lopez is seriously worrying about the upcoming Madrid. Objectively, tennis provides times, routines, automatisms. Training is one thing, the match another. And Roland Garros is getting closer and closer. Taking for granted what Paolo Lorenzi says, who has a long view and should always be listened to with great attention, “If you see Rafa Nadal simply walking inside Roland Garros, you will always have to consider him as a favourite”, objectively some perplexity remains. The age, the new competitors.

This is the Nadal case. And Djokovic? Well, here we have a brilliant start to the year. Djokovic style. Adelaide wins, Melbourne Prepratorial Tournament. And he takes his first Grand Slam. Then Dubai plays, hoping to continue for the USA, instead it happens that: he loses in the final to Medvedev (always him …) and the Americans forbid him entry, to him who is not vaccinated. Conclusion? Lots of downtime. Nole has to wait for everyone to return to Europe, and here we are in Montecarlo. Where he loses from our Musetti. In general he doesn’t seem to have nail polish, and he also plays with a long tape to protect his elbow. And the Serbian himself confirms that something is wrong: “My elbow is not in ideal shape, but good enough to be ready for the next match” he said from Banja Luka, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he is on stage. Someone suspects a recurrence of a previous injury. The next few days will tell us more, it is certain that this season on reds appears decidedly uncertain and also open to new solutions.

Probably never as this year will the Internazionali Bnl d’Italia be the real thermometer of the forces in the field towards the Red Slam in Paris. A right way to celebrate the eightieth edition.