It may not have been surprising, but it sure was disappointing when Rafael Nadal [2] withdrew from his semifinal match against Roger Federer [4] at the BNP Paribas Open. Nadal’s knee began to hurt during his quarterfinal match against Karen Khachanov [12]. After the 7-6(2), 7-6(2) victory, which he interrupted with a medical timeout for knee treatment, he immediately expressed uncertainty about whether he would step on the court against his Swiss rival. Saturday morning, Nadal confirmed what people had feared and announced he would not play the remainder of Indian Wells and withdrew from Miami.

In a press conference following the announcement, Nadal was not specific about what he was experiencing. “I warm up today in the morning, and I felt that my knee was not enough good to compete at the level that I need to compete, to play semifinals match of this event.” His plan is to return home and prepare for the clay season, returning to the court in Monte Carlo.

He quickly pushed back against the suggestion that he may skip hard court tournaments altogether in the future: “I am a tennis player, and to be a tennis player, I have to play on all the surfaces. My goal is to play on all the surfaces. Another thing is to adjust my calendar to the way that I need. But that does not mean that I'm not gonna play in the hard courts.”

Although he was clearly disappointed, Nadal keeps his spirits high: “I’m just gonna keep going, and I’m just gonna keep doing the things that work well for me and accept that sometimes these issues can happen. All the things that are in my hands I am doing well. The things that I can't control, I can't control. I accept the situation even if today is a sad moment for me.”

He continued by expressing gratitude in disappointment.  “Try to be always positive and grateful with all the things that tennis gives to me and life gives to me. I can't complain much, because I feel very fortunate for all the things that I did in this life and happened to me in the world of tennis. So is normal that after all those things you go through, sad and tough moments, too, and that's it. Just keep going.”

Roger Federer was the consummate professional in handling the cancellation, which he was the first to hear about, making sure that fans and the tournament were taken care of after his pre-match routine was disrupted. “I'd say, two, three hours have been very different to a normal match day where I have warmed up, ready to go, and then all of a sudden getting a message from Rafa saying, ‘I won't be able to play. I haven't told anybody yet.’ […] And you wonder how you can help out the tournament in a situation like this where fans have paid a lot of money for a ticket. So instead of worrying about forehands and backhands, you're worrying about the health of the tournament, and also what is best for me personally, individually, for the finals tomorrow.”

Roger Federer shifted gears to prepare for his Sunday final against Austrian Dominic Thiem [7]. Their head to head is tied at two matches each. Federer won their last match, the ATP Masters Cup in 2018 6-2, 6-3. Before that, their last matches were in 2016, a lifetime ago in tennis.

Thiem earned his spot in the final with a 7-6(3), 6(3)-7, 6-4 victory over Milos Raonic, in a semifinal that took over two and a half hours. Looking ahead to his final, Thiem already worked to manage expectations, saying “yeah, I mean, it's always something special to play him and also something special  to compete in a Masters 1000 finals. It's only my third one. I have pretty bad stats in the finals. So I know it's going to be very tough, but same time, I will give everything to hopefully win my first title.”