Knee injury forces Nadal into retirement, del Potro advances

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, is treated by a trainer during a change over against Juan Martin del Potro, of Argentina, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Friday in New York.

NEW YORK (TNS) – Rafael Nadal gave and gave at this U.S. Open, spending 17 hours and 55 minutes pounding his 32-year-old knees on hard court and supplying two marathon blocks of entertainment before his body finally gave out.

Nadal, the world’s No. 1 player and the defending champion in New York, retired against Juan Martin del Potro, trailing 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 about two hours into the first semifinal of the day in Flushing Meadows. His retirement puts No. 3 seed Del Potro back into the U.S. Open finals for the first time since the Argentine won the title, his only career Grand Slam championship, in 2009. He will play the winner of last night’s second semifinal between No. 6 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 21 Kei Nishikori.

“Of course, it’s not the best way to win a match. I love to play against Rafa because he’s the biggest fighter in the sport,” Del Potro said. “I don’t like to see him suffering on court today.”

The first signs of trouble with Nadal’s knee came after the seventh game of the first set, when the Spaniard called the trainer to have his right knee taped just below the kneecap – the same place he had it taped throughout his third-round match against Karen Khachanov, a four-setter that lasted 4 hours 23 minutes.

Nadal, either unhappy or uncomfortable with the trainer’s first tape job – he notoriously dislikes playing with tape on – tore the wrapping off not long after. But he was walking with a hitch in his step and had the trainer out to retape the knee early in the second set. Even after that, Nadal wasn’t able to run like usual.

“I hate to retire, but to stay one more set out there, playing like this, would be too much for me,” Nadal said.

Friday is the second time this year Nadal retired during a Grand Slam match; he also retired in the fifth set of a quarterfinal match against Marin Cilic at the Australian Open, the sport’s other hard-court major.

The 32-year-old has long suffered with tendinitis in his knees, presumably brought about by his intense style of play – his mobility is perhaps his greatest asset, especially his ability to change direction during the course of a point. It makes him prone to long matches, and his quarterfinal against Dominic Thiem (nearly five hours) was the longest match of the tournament.