'Feels like a needle inside': Nadal reveals breathing difficulties; leaves fans worried

After a shock defeat against Taylor Fritz in the Indian Wells final, Spanish ace Rafael Nadal has revealed that he suffered from 'worrying' breathing difficulties during the straight-set loss.

The 21-time Grand Slam champion suffered a 6-3 7-6 (7-5) defeat to the American, ending his 19-game winning streak.

At 4-0 down in the first set, Nadal left the court for treatment and later said he was experiencing difficulties breathing.

"It's tough for me to breathe. When I try to breathe, it's painful, and it's very uncomfortable,' Nadal said in a post-match press conference.

"When I'm breathing, and when I'm moving, it's like a needle all the time inside here. I get dizzy a little bit because it's painful. It's a kind of pain that limits me a lot. It's not only about pain. I don't feel very well because it affects my breathing," the Spaniard explained.

"Honestly, I am sad because of the way I was not able to compete. The thing that worries me now it's about what's going on there, what I have to do now to recover and how long it's going to take," Nadal concluded.

Fritz became the first American to lift the Indian Wells trophy since Andre Agassi in 2001. An ecstatic Fritz said, "I can't even begin to describe how ridiculous it is to play, how I could play today. I've never experienced worse pain like I did before the match."

"I took a couple of steps and screamed. I was trying to act tough, and we did a lot of work leading up to the match. I was really upset, basically almost crying because I thought I was going to have to pull out," the American added.

"I went through a rollercoaster of emotion and all of a sudden being really happy thinking maybe I can play, but it didn't affect me at all. This is one of those childhood dreams you never even think will come true," he concluded.

After having bagged the Australian Open earlier this year, Nadal will defend his French Open title at Roland-Garros in May.

Meanwhile, fans of the Spaniard took to Twitter to express their concerns over Nadal's well-being. Some questioned if this revelation resulted from Covid-19, and some went a step ahead to warn unvaccinated Novak Djokovic not to take the virus lightly. Here's a look at some of the reactions: