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Melbourne - Rafael Nadal should recover for his Friday match against Dudi Sela at the Australian Open despite going to the limit of his physical tolerance in a five-set victory in the second round, his doctor said on Thursday.
"Yesterday's was a rather extreme situation, but I hope that is going to recover," said Dr Ruiz Cotorro in Melbourne a day after a nauseous Nadal managed to beat American qualifier Tim Smyczek 7-5 in a fifth set after four hours of play in sweltering night-time temperatures.
But there are no guarantees about the eventual fitness of the fourth-seeded Spaniard, who almost vomited on court as he ran out of energy after less than an hour on court due to his condition.
Ruiz Cotorro said the "very abrupt temperature change" that occurred on Wednesday in Australia, with temperatures above 30 degrees and high humidity, affected Nadal, who was also bothered by an earlier stomach upset.
"Rafa sweated a lot in the match, and that he generated a loss of liquid above normal. In place with high humidity (like Melbourne) his physiology was stressed.
"It was a set of things: he was sick to his stomach, feeling pain, and was dizzy," the sports physician said.
"He stopped drinking what he usually drinks, because he did not tolerate it well. He drank only water and not recovery fluid.
"We will have to see how he recovers, this is not the best scenario."
