French Open champion Rafael Nadal has said he nearly ended his season after being forced to withdraw from the Indian Wells semi-finals with a knee injury in March but played through the pain at Roland Garros to clinch a record-extending 12th title. Nadal conceded a walkover to Roger Federer at Indian Wells and skipped the Miami Open before returning to the tour for the clay season, where he lost three semi-finals in a row before winning titles in Rome and Paris. “Mentally, after Indian Wells, I suffered a major downturn,” the Spaniard told the ATP website. “I considered shutting down my season to see if my body would recuperate instead of playing through injury after injury. “After Indian Wells, I took a moment to make sense of all of it...

Source: Hindustan Times June 12, 2019 06:22 UTC