Federer Worried About Nadal (Plus the Plot Thickens!)

R. Federer says he’s concerned about the health of Nadal, who hasn't played since his loss to Rosol The Great at Wimbledon due to a knee injury.




"I was
going to write him and check on him because I can't believe he's been
out that long," Federer told reporters in Cincinnati. "I thought the
Olympics, okay, that's fine. That's a personal choice. I thought for
sure we would see him in Toronto, but now he missed Toronto and
Cincinnati. It's very surprising, because it was nothing that we heard
of prior to the injury. He played so well on clay, and then actually
seemed fine at Wimbledon. He had more time by losing earlier at Wimbledon.
So it came as big surprise now, these two pullouts for me. Even the
Olympics, too. So I'm sad for him. I hope he'll be back for the US
Open."




Ouspoken as usual, Fed comes out with how he views Nadal's absence, no beating about the bush. Plenty to read between the lines, just as we like it


P.S.

In the meantime a new, significant development:


Nadal tells the Spanish TV station Laverdad that he is questionable for the U.S. Open, which begins on the 27th of August. Nadal has not played a tournament since Wimbledon due to tendonitis in his knees. "I don't know if I’ll be ready in time for the U.S. Open," he said. "I can't say yes or no. The injury is not the same as other years, and I have found it a little different."

He forgot the No? at the end of the sentence 8)

It shows that Roger is relaxed and in very good mood these days, no wonder. But it also seems to be obvious that Roger is getting to be his pastor. But as his pastor it is strange that he does not know what the problem with Nadal is. Probably he has trouble with his mobile phone8)

I wish to have both in US SF, they both need to play more often against each other :-)

Yes that's an interesting piece of interview from Federer. Does he really believe Nadal is injured? Does anybody believe Nadal is injured?

Maybe he is really injured. I am however more inclined to believe the silent ban though. Once again he goes from glory (FO 2012) to free fall without really a clear obvious degenerescence of his phyiscal ability.

But I am surprised Federer is not aware of teh silent ban....or is he pretending?

Very clever from Federer,expressing his concerns and giving people a lot of food for thought when reading between the lines
I dont think he is as clueless and probably knows more about whats really going on then he is leading people to believe he does and he is enjoying playing with it

Yes but it's a lot of reading the lines from us.



What really puzzles me is that not so long ago he was asked what would be the worst thing to happen to tennis...and he coudl have thought of many things but he came with a big name testing positive...whoch I thought was really weird...for someone who works so hard on cleaning the image of the sport.

I woudl like to read what other players think.

Sometimes I wonder whether Nadal is not worried about the LA case now being reopen.

Hi Tenez, good to see you here again welcome home!

As Fed says how a good relatioship he has with Nadal, everyone who still has a bit sense can see that this is clear theatre. It is quite funny what Fed pretends and his worries about Nadal. After Wimbledon his relax is getting transferred into a kind of clownish announcement. Let us appreciate it. I see this as a good step up for Fed. Finally that could be like his new kind of humor on account of his best tennis mate :lol!:

The plot thickens SIGNIFICANTLY :

Nadal tells the Spanish TV station Laverdad that he is questionable for the U.S. Open, which begins on the 27th of August. Nadal has not played a tournament since Wimbledon due to tendonitis in his knees. "I don't know if I’ll be ready in time for the U.S. Open," he said. "I can't say yes or no. The injury is not the same as other years, and I have found it a little different."

The thing which I find odd with believing Nadal's injury is the wayit's been handled in the media.

Basically, when you're injured you get scanned, prodded and diagnosed, then given therapy and the time frame. That happens in 99% of the cases, let's not kid ourselves here, Nadal has not suffered memory los so we don't know when it's going to come back: it's tissues and tendons, predictable things and quite manageable.

When Novak got injured last year after that crazy season mainly due to burnout and overworking of those muscles, he had that tear int he lower back, and he took 6 weeks off, rested it in the meantime and that was that, he came back in Basel, was a bit rusty, but honoured his number one ranking and finished off the season best he could under the circumstances.

So all this tournament by tournament spoonfeeding from his camp is very dodgy in my opinion.

Thanks Paul. I cannot say I am happy to be back in London....but I am certainly happy to have seen this site take off while I was away.

Nadal is not going to play in the US. What he says really sounds like the USO. It translates as book your tickets as I may play....but don't blame me if I pul out in the last moment.

I think we will not know whether he is injured or not until next clay season. If he plays and performs well next season, then clearly that was a silent ban. If he is still struggling then I will start believing he is injured.

noleisthebest wrote:The plot thickens SIGNIFICANTLY :

Nadal tells the Spanish TV station Laverdad that he is questionable for the U.S. Open, which begins on the 27th of August. Nadal has not played a tournament since Wimbledon due to tendonitis in his knees. "I don't know if I’ll be ready in time for the U.S. Open," he said. "I can't say yes or no. The injury is not the same as other years, and I have found it a little different."

Im just wondering if all the "silent banning" is true,could it be that Nadal is facing the full wrath?
You can only warn someone so many times before you have to do something that will really get through to them

What are you saying Vee? That maybe Nadal is really injured? As said, there is much to read in between the lines of Federer's comments....or nothing at all.

Unfortunately we will really know about the silent ban if/when he starts to play well again. If he keeps slipping the ranking then chances are he is really hampered. We know that his game is so dependent on him being 120%.

Another possibility is that he may have been warned that if he gets tested + again, teh tests will be given to the media....which means that he has no chance to play at the top again and can only slide the ranking unless his team find a new magic potion!

This might be the result of the new ATP director implementing a more severe approach to doping. It coudl also explain why Nadal left the ATP council. I would love to know much of what's going on behind the walls.

Tenez wrote:

Another possibility is that he may have been warned that if he gets tested + again, teh tests will be given to the media....which means that he has no chance to play at the top again and can only slide the ranking unless his team find a new magic potion!

This might be the result of the new ATP director implementing a more severe approach to doping. It coudl also explain why Nadal left the ATP council. I would love to know much of what's going on behind the walls.

If this scenario is the one, do you think he'll ever come back?
I can't see him being competitive and "dictating with his forehand" again, really...

"Severe approach to doping"?
Hide the ban and hope no-one finds out, then let him back in? They should just come right out and ban the cheating bastard and let everyone know!
And how Djoko got away without a ban, or silent suspension or whatever last year, I'll never know - asthmatic to superman in 2 months. Oh yeah, because he stopped eating gluten

Tenez wrote:What are you saying Vee? That maybe Nadal is really injured? As said, there is much to read in between the lines of Federer's comments....or nothing at all.

Unfortunately we will really know about the silent ban if/when he starts to play well again. If he keeps slipping the ranking then chances are he is really hampered. We know that his game is so dependent on him being 120%.

Another possibility is that he may have been warned that if he gets tested + again, teh tests will be given to the media....which means that he has no chance to play at the top again and can only slide the ranking unless his team find a new magic potion!

This might be the result of the new ATP director implementing a more severe approach to doping. It coudl also explain why Nadal left the ATP council. I would love to know much of what's going on behind the walls.

Oh no,we all know he was never injured,and now its fair to consider that the 24 drug testing at the Olympics might not have been the main reason Nadal didnt play at the games cause if that was true then he would have returned to tour for the Rogers Cup or Cincinnati
But now that Nadal is hinting at the possibility that he may not even play the U.S Open,the silent ban sounds like quite a real possibility
If we go by what TRuffins link claims,then Nadal has been silently banned before and that wasnt enough punishment.Maybe the ATP are thinking a longer suspension would do the trick,so in essence Nadal is facing their full wrath this time round
Whatever the case may be,I hope that what youre saying is correct cause its about time that the ATP were stricter and more consistent in the way they enforce the rues of the game

mikeyM1000 wrote:"Severe approach to doping"?
Hide the ban and hope no-one finds out, then let him back in? They should just come right out and ban the cheating bastard and let everyone know!
And how Djoko got away without a ban, or silent suspension or whatever last year, I'll never know - asthmatic to superman in 2 months. Oh yeah, because he stopped eating gluten

Who are you Mikey? Welcome here regardless.

I'm Mikey! Not been on a sports forum before - kept an eye on ja606 but never got around to joining. Figured I'd give a new start-up a try. But I might just as likely disappear, then show up again, 'cos I gets things off my chest (down the pub usually) and then have nothing else to say!

Veejay wrote:Whatever the case may be,I hope that what youre saying is correct cause its about time that the ATP were stricter and more consistent in the way they enforce the rues of the game

That's certainly a possibility. They may have heards the millions of cries calling for more regulations as more millions were mocking the players ridiculous stamina and power.

OK - DId you sort out your emails issues? There is a way to desactivate all these in your preferences....though it's a bit cumbersome I admit.

No, I'm still getting them. I can probably re-direct into Junk though, so not a big prob.

I see Nadal is in trouble again. My favorite subject. So I can’t resist taking a
little time off to post the following, mostly comments I pulled from other
sources. Yes, the plot thickens. Here’s a brief chronological account of Nadal’
s recent history possibly associated with failed drug tests and silent bans he
received. I hope it gives everyone a little more info to form your own opinion
re the current Nadal mystery.

October, 2011
“Andynonomous” posted the
following comments here: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?p=554833#post554833

“”According to a French forum, Nadal tested
positive for a banned substance last year [2010] at the US Open. The article
was apparently written by a CNN journalist and stored on a CNN computer where
it was downloaded by one of the forum members.

Nadal contrôlé positif à USO!!!

By Scott Williams

MIAMI | Fri Dec 3, 2010 6:28pm EDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - The ATP on Friday announced that current world number one
player Rafael Nadal has tested positive for an undisclosed banned substance
during the USO. The ATP declined to make further comments because it is up to
the anti-doping authorities, within the International Tennis Federation (ITF),
to assess such a case.

Based on previous doping cases, most recently the one involving french tennis
player Richard Gasquet who failed a test for a recreatonal drug during the
Miami tournament in 2009, as well as standard ITF procedure, B sample testing
through an independant lab will be performed within 7 days.

Neither Rafael Nadal nor Toni Nadal, his uncle and long-time mentor, were
available for immediate comment. Andre Agassi, a former number one tennis
player, and only open-era career-slam holder alongside Nadal and Roger Federer,
told NBC that should Nadals' failed test be confirmed by the B sample of the
spaniard, it "would be a huge dissapointment for tennis fans around the
world, although not totally unexpected for those closely following the
game".

http://forums.la1ere.fr/sport/tennis...et_2445_66.htm””

Below quoted is a reply to the above comments by another poster in the same site:

“”This sounds suspiciously like the Contador affair, where there was a long
delay while the authorities attempted to cover it up (Contador admitted that he
thought the Clenbuterol positive was going to be handled "in-house" =
silent ban). Only Contador was unlucky that a German journalist spilled the
beans.

Either this is a VERY elaborate hoax, or it's true. Knowing that the ITF, and
the UCI are both EXTREMELY corrupt, my suspicion is that the article is true,
but was held back because of pressure from the ITF.””

SR: Hypothetically, the alleged ban would go to explain the probable scenario that
Nadal won USO’10 with banned substance(s), and that’s also the reason why he
never won another title off-clay because he didn’t use banned substances to try
to win those non-clay events post-USO’10.

November, 2011
According to info from TRuffin’s recent post, Nadal was tested positive during last WTF
and stopped playing 2/12, as a silent ban prevented him from playing that whole
month. We all know what happened when he came back to play at IW.

March, 2012
Afterwithdrawing from Miami, Nadal got “treatments” and later reported the following good news when he came back to play MC:

"Seriously the tendons are much better today than three years ago...The treatments worked
fantastic. Even if today a really bad knee and last couple of days were tough
for me, but positive thing the tendon improve a lot the last couple of years. I
am more health with both tendons than now."

He was more than fine from March to the FO to the beginning of Wimbledon. Then all of a sudden a
few days after the 2^nd round exit from W, he said he was suffering an injury all thru the clay season!!! (Didn’t his fans say he was 100% back in
MC and nothing less than unplayable at the FO?)

July 2012
Nadal claimed “lack of preparation” even though the week before he was filmed jet-skiing and scuba-diving rather than practicing for the
Olympics:
"I am not in the right physical
condition to compete at the London Olympics and for this reason I will nottravel as arranged with the Spanish delegation...I have to think about my
team-mates, I cannot be an egotist and think about myself here. I have to think about Spanish sport, and that one of my team-mates who is better prepared than me can take my place and compete to the best of his ability."

Rumourhas it that he was tested positive pre-Wimbledon and a ban was imposed. Allegedly, Nadal knew all along he wasn’t going to the Olympics

August 2012
Still missing in action from Toronto and Cincy. And it looks like he will probably skip the USO. The reality of Nadal’s continuous and
prolonged absences seems very far-fetched for a champion in his prime. The most likely explanation can only be one just as far-fetched, such as a 3-month
silent ban. When the notion of a silent suspension was first proposed just before the Olympics, it still seemed unlikely. But it seems to make a lot of
sense now if Nadal is still a no-show later this month in New York.
PS: Sorry for the inconsistent type-face and untidiness of the post layout. I need to improve my cut & paste skill. :drunken: :lol:

Great post SR!!
How come you never mentioned the first bit before?

Thanks, SR, pure common sense there

No wonder I couldn't watch THAT USO final, it was so brutal and physical for me it hurt!
And before you ask, no I couldn't watch the AO 2012 final either (or most of the semi, either for that matter)... and that says something for an ardent Nole fan :roll:
Nadal to me looked worst during the whole of 2009/10. There was something eery about the sheer physicality of his shots.

What prevents someone on this forum from being 'Scott Williams'? :scratch:

VJ, you mean the alleged article by the CNN reporter?

I only found that couple days ago when I was searching for "silent ban". Must confess I didn't quite believe it when I first heard it. But When Nadal pulled out of BOTH Toronto and Cincy, it begins to make sense, as we know that he has no injury. What else could it be but a silent suspension?

I think the French forums are so much more open re the doping subject. No taboo. If nadal skips USO, the trend will catch on, I hope. We're not children to be made afraid of dealing with unseemly subject matters. Nadal fans wishing to avoid the unavoidable truth should just go to Nadal fan site if they're not up to the task of dealing with news they don't want to hear, right? :roll:

laverfan wrote:What prevents someone on this forum from being 'Scott Williams'? :scratch:

Fair point Laverfan but in fairness you can ask the same question about anyone on the internet,or anything that written on blogs

laverfan wrote:What prevents someone on this forum from being 'Scott Williams'? :scratch:

Hello, first a very warm welcome! I hope you're not shocked by the "risque" nature of posts in this forum. :lol!:

No, nothing prevents anyone from being Scott Willimas. Even SR could be Scott Williams. :joker: But the bottom line is, the information I provided is circumstantial and purely speculative. I've made that clear in my post. Just hoping we're all grown-ups here capable of processing existing info and making up our own minds what we want to believe. It is perfectly OK not to believe at all. It's call freedom of expression and choice. :flower:

OK, confession time:

I am NOT Scott Williams.
And neither am I Serena Williams. Or Venus.


Just thought I'd clarify :afro:

Veejay wrote:

laverfan wrote:What prevents someone on this forum from being 'Scott Williams'? :scratch:

Fair point Laverfan but in fairness you can ask the same question about anyone on the internet,or anything that written on blogs

Understood, Veejay.

Who is Scott Williams?

wow3 wrote:Who is Scott Williams?

Scott Williams is the person who is quoted in SR's link

WHo is SR? Welcome here though...very interesting posts. Do you speak French?

Tenez wrote:WHo is SR? Welcome here though...very interesting posts. Do you speak French?

SR previously known as Commonsense

I must say that after a full reading of the Scott Williams press release, I find it less credible due to some basic typos, its tone and the quote of Agassi.

I am afraid I am not convinced on that one...though I still believe Nadal might be getting through a silent ban.

Veejay wrote:

Tenez wrote:WHo is SR? Welcome here though...very interesting posts. Do you speak French?

SR previously known as Commonsense

Ah ok. THanks.

Tenez wrote:WHo is SR? Welcome here though...very interesting posts. Do you speak French?

Tenez, a very belated welcome back. Sorry for the late
reply. I hope you got your enthusiasm back for tennis. Isn’t it great to see aresurgent RF rising like a phoenix again?

About my current pseudo, I’ve been SR for almost 2 years now
at Bleachers. I decided there’s really no need for the CommonSense
pseudo I created when I joined v2 recently. Turned out I never liked that id, too long and presumptuous. So I went back
to SR, the real me. But I’m still CS at v2. Not bothered changing it bc I’m
virtually inactive there anyway.

Oh, I speak broken French (lack of practice) but read French a lot better.

Tenez wrote:I must say that after a full reading of the Scott Williams press release, I find it less credible due to some basic typos, its tone and the quote of Agassi.

I am afraid I am not convinced on that one...though I still believe Nadal might be getting through a silent ban.

Good for you Tenez, for being able to tell the Williams forgery.
Veejay & I are both somewhat fooled by it. He posted the link at THASP and
was told it’s fake.

But real or fake is not such a big deal. Like everything in
life it is our own responsibility to evaluate and (re)interpret internet info
accordingly. The article would have added
huge value to the doping allegations if it were true; but the fake article by
itself is still an interesting real, although it has no power to change our (Veejay, SR and Tenez et al) mind that nadal
is very likely serving a 3-month silent ban.

What I find interesting is that more and more posters are now supporting or inclining to support the doping charges against nadal. This is especially the case in Bleacher Reports. When Veejay started to raise the question of Nadal's using PED about 2 years ago, even Fed fans wouldn't come near him, like they wanted nothing to do with a friend who committed a crime.

Now the THASP links to The Curious Case of Nadal is gaining prominence overnight when news broke that nadal had withdrawn from USO. Meantime, not a single post has surfaced even from staunch nadal fans themselves to make a serous effort in defense of their hero in BR site.

If nadal is indeed innocent, why are his fans keeping so quiet? What am I missing?