Is Rafael Nadal down with a wrist injury or a stomach bug?

Spanish Tennis star Rafael NadalNew Delhi After all the anticipation it turned out to be a colossal disappointment For fans and sponsors alike First came the lsquorumourrsquo that it was a lsquostomach bugrsquo but later it turned out to Rafael Nadalrsquos old lsquobugbearrsquo ndash the errant wrist which has been the cause of much of the lefthanderrsquos misery this yearHe did not play yesterday but he may yet make an appearance at the doubles in which he won the Olympic gold alongside Marc Lopez in Rio or in the reverse singles Surprises surprisesSo the first dayrsquos story was not Spainrsquos 20 lead but it was Nadalrsquos lsquonoshowrsquo Nadalrsquos replacement Feliciano Lopezrsquos win over Ramanathan Ramkumar was no surprise but his revelation after the match sure was In the absence of any official statement before the commencement of the opening match of the World Group Playoff match between favourites Spain and hosts India the lsquostomach bugrsquo and the lsquoinfamousrsquo Delhi Belly ruled the twitter worldOn Thursday night Ramkumar must have gone to sleep thinking he was going to see the legendary 14time Grand Slam champion across the net But yesterday afternoon he found Lopez the World No 26 on the other side Lopez won in four sets and Spain went 10 up No surprise for no matter who of the Spaniards sent to the court they were expected to win the singlesBut the big surprise came at the postmatch press conference Feliciano who stood in for Nadal revealed that there was ldquonothing was wrongrdquo with Nadalrsquos stomach It was the old wrist injury which has still not healed Even he had a hearty laughFans ditchedBut it was no laughing matter for the sponsors and the fans who flew in from as far as Mumbai Kolkata and some other cities Local fans stood in queues for hours on Tuesday to get the lsquofreersquo passes and again for hours to get into the RK Khanna DLTA Stadium So why did Nadal really pull out And why this confusion Could not the Spaniards have simply said that Nadal would take court if fit Eyebrows had been raised as to why Spain was bringing in an allstars team against a struggling Indian sideSo was there something else that required Nadalrsquos presence in India Was it the presence of Mapfre who the Indian announcer at Tuesdayrsquos press conference said were the lsquolocalrsquo sponsors of the Spanish team here for this match Mapfre a Spanish insurance company who are hoping to make an entry into the Indian market have also been the sponsors and supporters of the Rafa Nadal Tour for juniors Under13 and 15 run by the legendrsquos own FoundationAll fine but if Nadalrsquos wrist was not still not fully healed the impression need not have been given that he was ready to do battle as the draw indicated It could have saved a lot of fans a lot of time and more importantly a lot of moneyRafa was fine for the first three days of his arrival during which he trained in the intense heat interacted with the media and signed autographs for kids He even turned up for the function where La Liga inaugurated their India officeSponsor connectionIt must also have been a blow for the lastminute sponsors Mapfre and La Liga the Spanish football league which hopes to cash in on the sports growing popularity in India But La Liga timed the inauguration of their India officevery well and it was attended by Nadal on Thursday Nadal was clearly the lsquopull factorrsquo for bothThat wrist has caused much anguish for Nadal this year He exited in the first round of Australian Open withdrew from the third round at Paris and totally missed Wimbledon before failing to go beyond fourth Round at the US Open In between he did win the menrsquos doubles gold medal at Rio Olympics but lost in the singles semis and also the bronze playoffStanding in a line the fans were all oblivious about the drama inside the stadium and more so the Spanish team room Then the Twitter world exploded mdash lsquoRafa was outrsquo Beaten not by injuries as he has often been and more so this year or by a tennis racket wielding opponent or a tiny lsquostomach bugrsquo as we believed for hours In the end it was the lsquosillyrsquo old wrist problem that refuses to go