US OPEN TENNIS- Find Out What Exactly Happened To Rafael Nadal's Knee In The Semi-Final Match Against Del Potro

📷: GETTY IMAGES

The very exciting US Open Tennis Tournament of 2018 is finally coming to an end but this year, one of the surprising highlights was when never-say-die Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, retired from his semi-final match against  his Argentine opponent, Juan Del Potro, due to what has been reported as a right knee injury. What exactly happened to Rafa's knee? and how bad did it get to make him retire from a match that many would have considered, still very much open....Here's our brief layman explanation, described with the hope that you do understand having appreciated what the typical knee joint looks like from the image below.

👀: Wikipedia

The knee joint is basically the meeting point between the thigh bone(Femur) and the leg bones(Tibia & Fibula). If you permit me to put it this way, this union is strengthened by ligaments/fibrous tissues(that connect bone to bone) and tendons/fibro-inelastic tissues(that connect muscles to bones). There's also extra cartilaginous (what some refer to as brisket bone) cushioning as well as ,  synovial(physiological/biological) fluid to prevent bone to bone friction and finally, what we call a joint capsule to wrap the whole union into a strong joint.  Any of the components mentioned above can be injured and result in various levels of pain; sometimes as severe as preventing the victim from walking.

👀: newbridgespine.com

According to reports by Richard Osborn,an official US Open Journalist,  the undisputed King of Clay is said to have been dealing with right knee pain stemming from TENDINITIS(inflammation of a knee tendon in this case/the body's natural response to tendon injury ), since the early rounds of the tournament. If you've ever had knee injury of any sort, even a boil, then you know how difficult it is to walk, talk less of twist and turn to return serves, forehands and backhands travelling at speeds of up to 200 km/hr  or more sometimes. The swelling and resultant pain from such an injury practically made it impossible for the 3 times US Open Champion to continue on this semi-final occasion.

👀: indianexpress.com

When asked about the future of his career, Rafa's response was - "EVERYBODY SAID I'D HAVE A SHORT CAREER-I'M STILL HERE". He expressed his sadness in an Instagram post but promised to be back next year for another exciting tournament and I am sure that his very loyal fans are looking forwards to having him.

View this post on Instagram

Bye #NewYork sad to leave but as always it was great to be here. Coming back next year. Thanks to all the services at the @newyorkpalace

A post shared by Rafa Nadal (@rafaelnadal) on Sep 8, 2018 at 4:05pm PDT

 In the meantime, it's Final day for the Men's single category and everyone is gearing up for an epic Djokovic VS Del Potro show down. Leeeetssssss goooooo thereeeeeee!

By: Dr. Oghenekevwe Daniel Ogidigben

REFERENCES:
* US OPEN| Nadal-"Everyone Said I"d Have A Short Career- I'm Still Here

* https://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/stats/1601.html