Laura Robson's column: Rafael Nadal’s latest injury and what will Novak Djokovic's new coach bring?

In her latest Sky Sports column, Laura Robson reflects on Rafael Nadal’s latest injury setback and Novak Djokovic ending his relationship with Goran Ivanisevic amid rumours about him working alongside Nenad Zimonjic.

Nadal's unfortunate injury crisis

Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Monte-Carlo Masters on Friday after announcing on social media that his body just won't allow him to compete.

I feel really bad for him because it seems like there is just one issue after the other and it happens to everyone when you start coming back from such a long time off. His original hip flexor injury that saw him unable to compete for a year and that might be fine now but then he's picked up the back issue and the knee problem.

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It feels non-stop for him at the moment. He's won Monte-Carlo 11 times so he's probably thinking, 'I'm not going to play in this tournament unless I know that I can win it'. I hope he makes a comeback soon and hopefully we see him in Barcelona.

Nadal has previously stated that he wants to retire after the 2024 season and you really hope that he is going to get the send-off that he wants because he's travelled to a lot of tournaments, almost competed in them and then had to pull out in the last moment.

Can Djokovic make a comeback in Monte-Carlo?

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After two decades of dominance from Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, there is talk of a changing of the guard in men's tennis with 22-year-old Jannik Sinner and 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz taking the tennis world by storm.

Monte-Carlo will also see the return of world No 1 and record 24-time slam winner Novak Djokovic but he hasn't won a title before the start of the clay season so there might be some nerves heading into Monte-Carlo.

However, I feel like every couple of years there's been a conversation about Djokovic saying that he isn't playing well and then he comes back and wins tournaments for six months straight.

I think what makes it different this time is that the level of competition is definitely harder given where Sinner and Alcaraz have been playing unbelievably well so maybe that just puts a few thoughts into his mind.

His performance at Indian Wells might have put a few thoughts into his mind about what he needs to change. It's not that Djokovic needs to keep up because he's definitely at the same level but just try and improve. You might think can Djokovic even improve anymore because he's so good and that's valid.

In a way though, I think it makes it more fun because it's more competitive and more exciting. Now we feel like it's not only going to be Djokovic winning every tournament.

Another thing to point out is that Djokovic split from his long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic earlier this month.

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In a post on Instagram published on Wednesday, Djokovic said he stopped working with 2001 Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic "a few days ago", ending their collaboration that began in 2018 and included 12 Grand Slam titles for the Serb.

There is plenty of talk about doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic replacing him and he's a really good guy who has had a lot of success.

Djokovic and Ivanisevic got along really well and like with a lot of coaching relationships, things just run its course and you felt like they were an old married couple because they had been together for so long.

They knew so much about each other and there was some bickering as well over the last few months on the court and in the box. I think when you know, you know.

He's been on tour so long and sometimes you just need a fresh voice. I read in a Serbian newspaper where Ivanisevic said they had run out of things to say to each other and had exhausted all conversations. It seems like they both knew it was time rather than it being one-sided which is always good.

A tribute to Alan Jones

Robson's former coach Alan Jones - who also worked with Anne Keothavong and Jo Durie - died this week at the age of 75.

Alan was one of my first coaches. He taught me so much but most importantly he taught me how fun working hard and committing to something can be.

He had such an infectious energy and passion for the game. You could hear his voice from several courts away, encouraging players from the first to the last session.

I spent plenty of time on court with Alan, but also off court with his lovely family and much beloved huskies. Most of all I am thinking of them during this difficult time. I hope they know how missed he will be.

WTA finals head to Saudi Arabia

It was also announced this week that Saudi Arabia will host the next three editions of the WTA Finals, the season-ending showpiece event of the women's tennis tour.

The women's professional tennis tour announced a deal that will see prize money for this November's tournament raised to $15.25m (£12m), a 70 per cent increase from 2023.

The nation's capital Riyadh will host the event for the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams from November 2-9, along with the 2025 and 2026 tournaments.

For me, this sort of felt inevitable given how many rumours there were about it happening last year. Given that it's April already we're not too far away from the WTA finals either and it was this open secret for a while.

This is definitely the biggest women's sporting event that they have done and it will be interesting to see what kind of atmosphere and reception they're going to get. You would want it to have a decent crowd but whether that is actually possible, I'm not sure.

The money is on the table and the WTA need it right now so you always felt like it was going to happen at some stage.

I guess there is a conversation about where we go from here. Do we have a Saudi Masters event eventually? Is it enough to just have the finals? I don't know. There's a whole conversation happening across the ATP and WTA at the moment with lots of different governing bodies, there's seven in tennis, which makes it really complicated.

It's interesting times but I don't want to put it down before it even happens. We're still months away so who knows?

What's the Monte-Carlo Masters schedule?

• Saturday, April 6 - Qualifying
• Sunday, April 7 - Qualifying
• Monday, April 8 - First round, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 10am
• Tuesday, April 9 - First and Second rounds, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 10am
• Wednesday, April 10 - Second and Third rounds, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 10am
• Thursday, April 11 - Third round, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 10am
• Friday, April 12 - Quarter-finals, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 10am
• Saturday, April 13 - Semi-finals, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 12.30pm
• Sunday, April 14 - Final, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 2pm

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