Injures are part and parcel of sport, but when they happen at an inopportune time, especially with great players, then there’s a great deal of sadness. That is what the tennis world feels right now as Rafa Nadal, after an epic quarter-finals match against young Taylor Fritz which he won in five sets, announced the next day that he wouldn’t be able to play the semi-finals due to a tear in his abdominal muscle. At his age taking a chance of aggravating the injury by playing was simply not worth it and so, he had to reluctantly pull out and so miss out on the opportunity of a crack at the Grand Slam of winning all four majors in the calendar year. 

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Last year, Novak Djokovic had that chance, but he just couldn’t get his game together in the final of the US Open and lost to Daniil Medvedev in straight sets. So Rod Laver remains the last player to do the Grand Slam when he won all the four majors in 1969.