Rafael Nadal sends emotional message to Lindsey Vonn after heartbreaking crash

Rafael Nadal sent an emotional message to Lindsey Vonn after her heartbreaking crash at the 2026 Olympics.

Nadal knows a thing or two about injuries. The Spaniard has missed a dozen majors because of injuries, which have followed him throughout his tennis career. Now retired, the 22-time major champion enjoys watching sports as a fan, and one of those is alpine skiing.

The 2026 Olympic Games are underway in Italy, and one of the first disciplines in the alpine skiing was the women's downhill. Lindsey Vonn became the talk of the event, after announcing that she ruptured her ACL.

Many deemed it impossible to compete with such an injury, but Vonn, as the current 2026 Alpine Skiing World Cup women's downhill leader, chose to compete at the Olympics regardless, hoping to win another Olympic medal for her country.

Vonn is a three-time Olympic medalist, having won gold in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and bronze in Super-G at the same Olympics. She also won bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

This time, she was in a great position. With bib number 13, seeing a few favorites fail to set the top time, and her compatriot Breezy Johnson in the top spot, Vonn certainly had a chance to challenge for a gold medal.

However, her run came to an end after only 13 seconds when she hit one of the gates, which threw her off balance. She fell to the ground and had to be transported by a helicopter. Nadal saw the crash and sent an emotional message to Vonn on X (formerly Twitter).

Nadal has a great connection with the Olympics. He won his first gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in singles and added another gold in doubles together with Marc Lopez at the 2016 Rio Olympics. On top of that, he carried an Olympic torch ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

While Nadal sent a message to Vonn on social media, his former rival, Novak Djokovic, travelled to Italy to attend the Olympics. Djokovic was seen at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, watching the final of the Team Event.

Djokovic watched USA's Ilia Malinin receive 200.03 points for his free skating routine, which secured the United States a gold medal, after going into the last free skating programme tied on points with Japan.

Unlike Nadal, however, Djokovic will soon return to the tennis courts. For now, he appears on the entry list for the Qatar Open in Doha. He is sponsored by Qatar Airways, which is why he will try to compete at this ATP 500 event.