‘Exhausted Rafael Nadal close to great mental fatigue,’ claims coach Carlos Moya

Rafael Nadal is close to ‘great mental fatigue,’ says coach Carlos Moya, who says exhaustion is the reason for his Wimbledon withdrawal.

Nadal revealed last week that he would not play either Wimbledon or the Olympics this summer with him explaining that he ‘needs to listen to his body’ in order to prolong his career.

However, Moya believes the clay season has taken a lot out of Nadal, particularly mentally with the way his Roland Garros campaign was ended by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

“The clay court tour was very tough, with a lot of physical and mental pressure,” Carlos Moya explained to the Spanish media.

“Rafa finished exhausted. He is going to take a well-deserved rest, this is a marathon, a long-distance race in which hard decisions have to be made and he has considered that the best thing is to stop to come back full of strength.

“Rafa two years ago reached a point of great mental fatigue that was very difficult to get out of and now he has indicated that he was close to that again.

“He cannot afford [to play in] a Grand Slam if he is not at 100%.”