Rafa pulls out of Abu Dhabi touney!!!
 

Sad indeed!!!!!:(

.i hope he recovers quickly..

So next stop the AO?

What news to get on Christmas day... and the wait goes on..

Crazy how he's going to win AO without any preparation at all.

I have a feeling that he might pull out of AO too citing lack of match play as a reason...:cry:

Nadal already said he's aiming to be in form by the clay season (or I think he mentioned Indian Wells). So he isn't thinking about winning the AO. In 2012 before the AO he also said he wasn't thinking about winning the AO, because he had just begun playing with a heavier racquet and he said he'd need all of February to train with it before ready.

Either that or he'll play Kooyong (the Kooyong organizers said Nadal was their top priority).

What a scunner this is :( Was hoping to see a Rafa/Muzz battle on Friday.

That man's always having issues with his fabulous ***.

You are sounding more like SoBad..:)

I miss him. :( Was really looking forward to seeing him in action again. I hope he plays Doha and AO.

I'm so bummed out about this :(

I was looking forward to his return. I know it's probably better for him and his knees in the long run, but goddammit this is disappointing.

....

I have that one, really bad feeling now.

Was Rosol Nadal's last match ever? I have that bad feeling.

I have a bad feeling he is going to withdraw a few days before the tournaments just like he is doing now.

if it really is a virus then maybe not. if its his knees then i would be worried.

I dunno. I just get the sense that.. how can he not be prepped by now? What more could he possibly do? We'll have a really definitive answer in a few weeks time.. but I just.. I kinda get the sense he wont be around till April... and only through June.

Yep, Nadal is about to retire because of a virus, yep, excellent posting as usual.

None of these "medical announcements" should come as surprise. His legs will continue to be problematic, and we'll continue to hear bogus announcements -- "I would love to play in front of all my fans in Monte Carlo but I completely forgot about my accountant's son's bar mitzvah....."

He said this week he doesn't expect his knee to be 100% until March........so expect lots last min pullouts and maybe some surprising losses for the 1st QTR of the year from him until clay.

He should dump the whole early hardcourt season anyway and save the knees until the soft stuff in March.