Has Nadal Unofficialy Retired?

OK.

In the past 5 months we have heard various: Rafa will be back in two weeks stories.

We have learnt that he has fat in his knee cap.

According to Toni, he was training and ready to join WTF and Davis Cup.

Those tournaments have been and (nearly) gone, without Nadal taking part.


Even Wooffie's blog has run out of updates....(unless you are in for the swimsuit daily dose )

So what is going on with Nadal?

Has he unofficially retired?

Well according to Henman and Castle commenting during the final, Nadal will play teh Exho in Doha during Xmas and they added he is not certain for AO but...."fingers crossed".

THis is really what I find strange cause though we know an Exho doesn;t really hurt it seems that Nadal woudl bother taking the money in a short exho in the Middle East but doesn't want to risk playing bigger ATP supported tournaments. 3 months ago we knew he was uncertain for all tournaments but certain for Doha...and 3 months on knees feeling better or not this is the same scenario as IF the outcome did not depend on his knees but his right to play ATP or not.

It's really weird honestly!

The bit that does not add up for me is this "injury".
To start with, we heard about two maybe even three different ones .
Then the "fat in the knee"one kind of took centre stage and we learnt that he had the surgery option which he turned down.

I mean if he had had the surgery (the more time-consuming scenario of dealing with the injury) he would have recovered by now.

As things stand, nobody has a clue what's going on, and that's what's weird and fishy.

Dr Fuentes will hopefully tell us what's wron with his knees on Januray.

Tenez wrote:Dr Fuentes will hopefully tell us what's wron with his knees on Januray.

decessus tacitus?

The essence of life is being discussed.

I would highly recommend a permanent thread on this subject, it would save a lot of typing and thinking, since such repetitions are the raison d'etre for some.

LF - I agree. We are short of ideas and stats here and also tired of the same subject again. It's however good to remind everybody here that Nadal and his team also keep doing PR contradicting each other inviting us in turn to speculate further.

So let's try to develop a serious analysis of todays game at the top. The other day you posted pictures of stats of players (Djoko/Fed) spent on a court, distance covered, Time etc....DO you know where we could find some more?...if not the whole DB?

Thanks

Tenez wrote:LF - I agree. We are short of ideas and stats here and also tired of the same subject again. It's however good to remind everybody here that Nadal and his team also keep doing PR contradicting each other inviting us in turn to speculate further.

Thanks, T.

Tenez wrote:So let's try to develop a serious analysis of todays game at the top. The other day you posted pictures of stats of players (Djoko/Fed) spent on a court, distance covered, Time etc....DO you know where we could find some more?...if not the whole DB?

Thanks

I have been corresponding with ESPN analysts to see if they would provide access to such data. Once I saw that set of statistics and similar from AO 2012, I wanted to compare the Top 4, but have not had much success in getting coherent responses. I will also approach ATP and see if they would make such data publicly available.

That would be amazing but I guess they are cautious of the way it coudl be interpreted.

I believe there was one guy on THASP who had access to all HE matches data....just by subscribing to a tennis site.

I'll investigate on my side too.

yeah i'll ask my contact at the itf and the atp who is more senior than all your contacts positions

laverfan wrote:The essence of life is being discussed.

I would highly recommend a permanent thread on this subject, it would save a lot of typing and thinking, since such repetitions are the raison d'etre for some.

Thank you for the advice. And all the typing. And thinking. And insightful, meaningful contribution. And joie de vivre you carry about you everywhere you go, it's lifted me up no end this grey afternoon.

I'm still waiting to learn something from it all, though

Matt Cronin ‏@TennisReporters
Toni Nadal tells @sebastianfest Rafa will resume training next week. Rafa in Prague with DC team and will do some TV there

Resume training? I thought that was 3 months ago? Well....whatever he says.....

Nadal starting his preparation for the 2013 season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7dOo7JdWis&feature=youtu.be

I am keen to see how fast he returns to the top. 6 month is a big break. I think he is going to do a Borg...he will get a few Rosol on the way and that will put him off. Just by looking at that clip, he doesn't see to enjoy the training much. Problem with Nadal is that even at teh top he was struggling winning many matches. The others getting better woudl be the end of any bog title for him.

BTW, No knee bandage, no problem pushing on legs...looks good....in case some doubted.

Tenez wrote:I am keen to see how fast he returns to the top. 6 month is a big break. I think he is going to do a Borg...he will get a few Rosol on the way and that will put him off..

I'm hoping Wimbledon draw doesn't let me down there, they have a knack of pulling off those amazing first round pairs such as Isner-Mahut two years in a row...
Wouldn't be magical to see the same with Nadal & Rosol?

Oh yeah...that woudl be fun...but frankly, many can beat Rafa on grass. He has been pretty vulnerable over the years in those early rounds. It's when the grass disappear that he becomes a real problem.

I can honestly say I have not missed him in the least, tennis is better off without him, although it would be good to have another competitor of his calibre in the top 4, just to balance the draws out better.

Murray is still the soft spot however much media is trying to hype him up.

So it looks like Nadal is not retiring just yet (still I'll believe it when I see him in a tournament draw)

Uncle Toni, the smoke-screen provider is not talking to the press any more about how Nadal is going to start playing in two weeks.

He does a U-turn by getting if all off his chest (I wonder if sponsors/PR actually demand fortnightly "updates" and "news" from Nadal and his team, to keep him "alive" to the fans who need to be buying stuff he advertises):

"Toni Nadal, the coach and uncle of Rafael Nadal, tells the web site Puntodebreak that
his nephew cried after beating Novak Djokovic for the 2012 Roland
Garros title because of the stressful, topsy-turvy nature of the match
and his rivalry with the Serb.

“Rafael had been playing very well all the clay season, had not dropped
a set, and was in position to win Roland Garros on the day before the
final,” Toni Nadal said. “On Sunday he was up two sets to love, it
started to rain, it stopped, the court was very heavy and Djokovic
started to play better than him. The picture changed completely. Rafael
had lost three Grand Slam finals against Djokovic in Australia,
Wimbledon, and U.S. Open. When you come back on Monday to continue
playing you know that the landscape has changed. You are down a break in
the fourth and you know the importance of not losing. Because for us it
would not have been a failure, but a blow. When you've played a season
on clay perfectly and get to Roland Garros, the most important
tournament, the culmination of that clay-court season, and end up
losing, it would have been a blow. There was a lot of tension.”

I remember watching Nadal run to his camp in the stands after the win thinking, He's gone a bit over the top this time...He really "happier" than when he won his first Wimbledon. It was just strange, as if he felt it may be his last.

It was the relief of finally beating Djokovic in a Gran Slam final.

Also he overtook Borg's FO record, so that may be the most historic moment of his career.

Noley:"still I'll believe it when I see him in a tournament draw"

I wrote these exact same words to a friend recently. I think the nadal camp will finalise decision for AO after the exho matches.

Very suspenseful times ahead full of question marks.

SR wrote:Noley:"still I'll believe it when I see him in a tournament draw"

I wrote these exact same words to a friend recently. I think the nadal camp will finalise decision for AO after the exho matches.

Very suspenseful times ahead full of question marks.

Yes, with Nadal and the way his team carry on, you don't know what to think or believe: is he injured, is he undergoing a silent ban, is it both....or something totally different!

I have not missed him and have noticed that Ferrer has "blossomed" during Nadal's absence, don't know if it's a coincidence, but wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't.
I once saw a short clip in which Nadal and a few other players sit together (as well as Toni) and the body language of the whole group was very telling, Nadal and Toni looking like royalty, the rest (bar F Lopez) very subdued and quiet.

Confession time:
I visited Wooffie's just now...
Plenty of new, fully dressed Nadal stuff: in Rotterdam with Krajicek, walking, playing tennis with people in the street (weird)
Dancing Gangham style as a leprechaun in some stables (even weirder)
AND!!!
going for a bike ride with some pro bikers (ahem, ahem, that's gotta be the weirdest one ), Are they getting the story right for January or building team spirit or.... what?

Maybe he's just trying to tell us his knees are fine because as far as I know, cycling tests them a lot more than tennis....

http://www.wooffiesrafaramblings.com/2012/11/i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-i-want-to.html

noleisthebest wrote:Confession time:
I visited Wooffie's just now...
Plenty of new, fully dressed Nadal stuff: in Rotterdam with Krajicek, walking, playing tennis with people in the street (weird)
Dancing Gangham style as a leprechaun in some stables (even weirder)
AND!!!
going for a bike ride with some pro bikers (ahem, ahem, that's gotta be the weirdest one ), Are they getting the story right for January or building team spirit or.... what?

Maybe he's just trying to tell us his knees are fine because as far as I know, cycling tests them a lot more than tennis....

http://www.wooffiesrafaramblings.com/2012/11/i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-i-want-to.html

Even as an amateur club level player, if I'm recovering from an injury that kept me out for months, I won't try to stress it doing things I just don't need to. 5 years back while playing football, I tore my knee ligament in a bad fall. It took me 5 months to start walking with no signs of limp. Even now after 5+ years, I won't risk doing something like playing football or mountain biking which can potentially aggravate my knee injury. It was so painful when it was, its impossible to forget and start doing things that can again put be through the pain.

And a pro athlete of Nadal's stature will risk stressing those knees which kept him from playing for 6 months, biking?? Just goes to tell you how injured he really was. The pictures are purposefully taken and put up just to show he is healing well. But for me it confirms further that he was never really injured.

In cricket I saw many times batmen wear extra protection all the time on those gloves even months and years after coming from a broken finger which has completely healed. They just won't risk getting hurt at all and even for their entire playing career then on-wards, they kept on the protection just because of the fear of going through it all again. Its impossible to forget a real injury like that. (e.g. Mathew Hayden, Lance Klusner, Sanath Jaisurya to name 3). And this Nadal has completely forgotten what pain he went through all these months and starting biking and dancing? Only dodos will buy that story.

If our suspicions that Nadal's injuries are generally phantom injuries,turns out to be true,what is Nadal going to do the day he is really injured?
If this episode is the result of a phantom injury,Nadal fans must really be scared to wonder what the result of a real injury will be

Nadal is saying he is unlikely to return this AO 2013.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nadal-says-he-is-unlikely-to-make-australian-open-return/308827-5-22.html

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Nadal is saying he is unlikely to return this AO 2013.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nadal-says-he-is-unlikely-to-make-australian-open-return/308827-5-22.html

I am kind of not surprised but still can't believe it!

More from our "hottest" Nadal source

"Doctors said that recuperation is on good way from lasts weeks. I want to play 5 years more if it's possible"
"Last summer I did other things that I can't rest of year with my family and friends in Manacor"
"I would really like to come back in January. But, to be honest, I don't expect to return and win the AusOpen"
"I won't be worried about first weeks results. I want to be at 100% in clay season: from Monte Carlo to R Garros"
"Surgery was an option in my mind. But doctors prefers always a safety treatment. And that we did".
"Be the world No.15 won't be a problem if it gives me enough confidence to continue on tour""Now I'm inscribed in Acapulco. But if I need more rhythm, I would play in Chile, Brasil or Argentina too".
"Now I can practice knowing that I'll return. Last months gym working with uncertainty were so hard for me".
"If capitain calls me, and my knee is ok, I'll play Davis Cup. But my own schedule is the most important"

So basically, he returns in Australia but goes down the pan in the ranking, plays himself into clay season and then lets rip at French Open

I wonder if that has anything to do with the Peurto trail,it would be better to lie low rather then end up being caught up in a media frenzy during a tournament

Really weird that. How can he know he wont be fit in 6 weeks time? That is a long time. Strange is that if you feel you won't be fit then surely you cannot feel any better for April. One cannot say I will be much better in 4 months and not 2. I coudl not say that of my shoulder and elbow injuries.

Silent ban it is! He doesn't know how long he is going to be sidelined...but playing exho doesn't follow the ban rule...I guess.

To me, the whole thing since that loss to Rosol has been an utter circus.

I think the problem losing to Rosol is that Nadal gets tested on the spot (exiting a slam). Something he may not have foreseen and may have been tested before the doping agent needed usually for the second week cleared off.

Maybe not too different than his 2009 loss. It's that early loss (was it 4th round?) that triggered another possible silent ban.

Whatever it is, it's really weird, I read somewhere that his feet are relatively quite small for his frame/weight and that they are the cause for the wear and tear on the knee joint.
But even if that was the case, he is not even a runner or sprinter or say, footballer as they really run more than tennis players (in theory), you never hear of any of them have any such trouble.

A special message for "Feds" from Wooffie

http://www.wooffiesrafaramblings.com/2012/12/the-return-of-king.html

Woooohh...I am scared. More like a drug lord than lord of the court to me.

Tenez wrote:Woooohh...I am scared. More like a drug lord than lord of the court to me.

Admit it, you typed this hidden behind that sofa in the corner.

its all wrong! mixing up lord of the rings, one of the gfoat, like that, its just WRONG!!! shame on you whoopee cushion

I'm just wondering who can still believe there is no silent ban happening right now with Nadal?!

Agree....I would not call not even call it "silent" nowadays, such are the stricking clues.

sphairistike wrote:I'm just wondering who can still believe there is no silent ban happening right now with Nadal?!

LegendKiller to name one.

Get your sick-bags ready before reading this one...

"In an interview with Diario de Mallorca, Rafael Nadal says he first hurt his knee this season at Indian Wells in March, then it got worse when he was forced to retire against Andy Murray in Miami. He then competed with discomfort all the way until he stopped playing after Wimbledon.


Nadal said he took a risk in the semifinals of Roland Garros, where he posted a quick win despite playing with inflammation in his knee, but that he was solely focused on winning his seventh title there. He also said he was not surprised Lukas Rosol upset him in the second round of Wimbledon, because for the two weeks prior he was only able to train one hour a day, without running. “It was very bad, and I was playing with the knee asleep,” he said. “You always think you can do it, but it was not possible even though I did my best.”

Nadal added that his defeat to Rosol could not be compared to when Robin Soderling upset him at the 2009 French Open.

“There is no point of comparison,” he said. “Both have in common that my knee was bad, but I could compete at Roland Garros. In Wimbledon, no. The defeat to Rosol as was a death foretold for me.”

The 11-time Grand Slam champion added that being forced to pull out of the Olympic Games in London was worst feeling he has ever had when pulling out of an event. Nadal also pulled out of Wimbledon in 2009, where he would have been defending his title.

The 26-year-old has said that he is planning to play the 2016 Olympics in Rio, but has not thought beyond that."

OK, this time it's not poor Toni and the two weeks return promise story, even the faithful Uncle can't cover up for the Humble Bully any longer....

I really can't believe what he said in that highlighted paragraph. I'm sure he can't either

this stuff annoys me.

The _______(fill in the blank) lord is back!

From tennis.com:

"Rafael Nadal is ready to return to tennis, confirming on Tuesday that he'llplay in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi at the end of the month following a six-month break to recover from a knee injury.

"Can't wait to get back on court in Abu Dhabi at the end of the month,"the 11-time Grand Slam champion said on his Facebook page and Twitter account. "I won the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in 2010 and 2011 would love to get my hands on the trophy again this year!"


Spoken like a truly "injured" player coming after a 6 months exile....either that or he hasn't heard Novak is playing there, as well...and Murrray....Berdych, Ferrer...ok and Tipsarevic.

SO the guy is desperate to play now a tournament he thinks he can win ....BUT...BUT...can't play in a month time in a much more important tournament despite another 4 or 5 weeks of rest.

BANNED!!! IT CANNOT BE CLEARER NOW!

Tenez wrote:SO the guy is desperate to play now a tournament he thinks he can win ....BUT...BUT...can't play in a month time in a much more important tournament despite another 4 or 5 weeks of rest.

BANNED!!! IT CANNOT BE CLEARER NOW!

I think many have misread the AO "no taking part" interview, which is why I posted the whole interview with highlighted parts, which you didn't read did you )
He didn't say he wasn't going to take part just that he doesn't expect to win it (my foot he doesn't expect it....)

I would loooove JJ to "bump" inot him in round 2 or 3

Oops.....I really thought he was not going to play it....or said something like it's unlikely "I'd play it".

Actually there is an article that claims he says he is unlikely to return and be fit for AO 2013


Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal on Tuesday confirmed that he was unlikely to be fit for the 2013 Australian Open. The 26-year-old has not played since June when he partially tore a tendon in his left knee in a second round match at Wimbledon and has been working towards gaining fitness.
The Mallorcan born player was realistic about his fitness prospects and said he didn't expect to be in condition to compete in the first major event of the season, which is held in January. "My recovery is going well. This past month I have taken an important step. I feel happy and the doctors are happy too," he said. "Miracles do not exist and I am unlikely to return and compete for the Australian Open."
Speaking on Spanish radio station, Onda Cero, Nadal said his main ambition was to be able to compete in the French Open and to hone his form in Monte Carlo in April for his favourite event, which he will try to win for a record breaking eighth time in May. "I want to be 100 percent in Monte Carlo and then prepare well for Roland Garros," said Nadal.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nadal-says-he-is-unlikely-to-make-australian-open-return/308827-5-22.html

Thanks Vee...I thought I had read something like that.

That's the same interview, one journo chooses to quote the whole statement , the other doesn't in order to make it a better headline.

The weird thing it's easy to believe both, such is the level of ambiguity Nadal has been spinning for years.

If the knee was really that injured it's beyond surgery, then it's insane that he risks his long term health and is returning to this very physical tennis not just on hard court but on slow one at that, the one he played a 6 hour long final.
No, it really doesn't make sense at all.
It's almost worth betting on.

Only an article written about Nadal will ever contradict itself by saying,"its unlikely that he will return" and then go on to say " its likely that he will"
I dont know what to believe anymore,I guess only time will tell