Rafael Nadal is expected to stay out of the tennis court for five months after successfully undergoing arthroscopic surgery. The procedure was to check his left psoas muscle. “Hello, everyone. As you know, last night I had surgery. Everything went well, and the arthroscopy was on the left psoas tendon that has kept me out of competition since January,” Nadal wrote in Spanish on social media.
“An old injury to the labrum of my left hip was also [fixed], which will surely help the better evolution of the tendon. I want to thank doctors Marc Philippon, Jaume Vilaro, and Angel Ruiz-Cotorro for their work,” he added. ”I will start progressive functional rehabilitation immediately, and the normal recovery process they tell me is 5 months if all goes well.”
© GettyImagesÁngel Ruiz Cotorro, one of three doctors, gave more details about Nadal’s procedure. “We reached this situation for various reasons,” explained the doctor. “We had a core issue — injuring a muscle is not the same as a tendon. When we put it under large loads, the tendon was not responding because it was not strong enough.”
According to the doctor, the 22-time major champion wasn’t considering surgery. “The decision to operate was made recently,” admitted Cotorro. “We tried all the conservative options, which is how these injuries are normally treated. But when the situation doesn’t work, you must make decisions.”
“I’m happy because we’ve done what we wanted to… We’re very satisfied, and if we respect the recovery times, I think he will be able to recover. Rushing is never a good idea. It’s five months, but we’re not pushing for a particular date,” Cotorro said.
© GettyImagesThe medical expert is optimistic about Nadal’s recovery. The athlete plans to return in 2024 for his last season. “We have a high chance of success,” said Cotorro. “All the remaining part of the tendon is healthy and will regenerate, but it needs time to regenerate, and it needs to be treated in a way that allows that to happen.”
The doctor also said Nadal had begun his rehabilitation. “It’s an operation that allows you to do some things but not others. He will be in limited rehabilitation for ten days; then he will start to work in the pool and on the bike,” he revealed. “Exercise that affects the tendon must be eliminated. From there, there is a healing period, which is always determined by biology. The first six weeks will be the most important. From there, we’ll do tests and see how to continue with the recovery.”
