Nadal OUT of 2013 Australian Open

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Man this sucks. Im over Rafa right now.

You have got to be kidding?

[T.P3D0R]

Originally Posted by tennis_pr0

A stomach virus? its two and a half weeks before the tournament begins. If it was a stomach virus he would not make this decision now, he would wait to see how he feels as the tournament gets closer. There is clearly something else going on here.....

If he has to take a 4-7 days off from training due to the virus, then that will have a pretty significant impact on his training routine and schedule. First tournament back being a grand slam would be challenging enough, coming off of a long break, jumping right into 5-set matches.

For the fans, it sucks that he's missing another tournament, but if he played in it, he would likely get knocked out too early if he doesn't have time to continue to build his endurance back up.

[dyldore]

Originally Posted by tennis_pr0

A stomach virus? its two and a half weeks before the tournament begins. If it was a stomach virus he would not make this decision now, he would wait to see how he feels as the tournament gets closer. There is clearly something else going on here.....

He didn't say the virus is keeping him from the AO. He said it is keeping him from playing the smaller tournaments before the AO and his doctors advised that his first tournament back not be a series of five setters. To me, it's would he rather gradually start again and play for the rest of the year, or jump into a slam and retire in the 3rd round. As a competitor I'm sure he wants to take the risk, but the smart decision is to take the extra time. It's 100x better to give an injury too much time to heal, than too little.

[RF20Lennon]

Federer made the semis in Australia despite having Mono like a boss!

[veroniquem]

Originally Posted by kishnabe

Well Federer is 3-6 in sets against Novak at the Aussie last 6 years , I like Federer chances if he gets there.

Fed's win over Novak at the AO was before Novak's big breakthrough and since then he hasn't even grabbed a set but nice try

[Clarky21]

Originally Posted by Mustard

You have got to be kidding?

Come on, Mustard. You can't blame MichaelNadal for being at his wits end with Nadal right now. People only have so much patience, and he has already been out nearly 7 months, and it will be 8 months he will have been out if he comes back in February. It's frustrating, especially because Nadal and his camp keep getting his fans hopes up only to crap on them time and time again.

[tennis_pr0]

Anyone thing he got banned or doping?

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by Clarky21

Come on, Mustard. You can't blame MichaelNadal for being at his wits end with Nadal right now. People only have so much patience, and he has already been out nearly 7 months, and it will be 8 months he will have been out if he comes back in February. It's frustrating, especially because Nadal and his camp keep getting his fans hopes up only to crap on them time and time again.

Nadal will return when he both wants to return and is able to return. End of. He has given us tonnes of entertainment over the years, and has done it all in the sport in the most thrilling fashion.

[checkmilu]

I remember seeing how Fed struggled with mono during AO. Sometimes people don't realize how tough he is as a competitor.
Hope some day they will make the hard courts alot faster to give the edge to skillful players so players like Fed can be competitive until their late 30s. Tennis is just too physical right now that break down even the strongest guy like Nadal too early!

[Smasher08]

Oh, and in other news today, Nike released Nadal's outfit for the 2013 clay season:

[Mustard]

If you want players to play a lot longer, into their late 30s and beyond, hardcourt tournaments need to be heavily reduced on the tour.

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by tennis_pr0

Anyone thing he got banned or doping?

yes.

the end.

[tennis_pr0]

Originally Posted by drakulie

yes.

the end.

I did not search through this entire thread it's just something that seems like a very good possibility to me

[checkmilu]

Originally Posted by Mustard

If you want players to play a lot longer, into their late 30s and beyond, hardcourt tournaments need to be heavily reduced on the tour.

Yeah, they should replace most of hard court tours with synthetic grass/ carpet which is softer and faster. If the new racquets help them pass easier then the courts should give them less time for defence. Players will more likely to adopt attacking strategies. The field will have more variety of mixing old and young guys just like in golf.

[merwy]

Originally Posted by Steve0904

Do you see him losing to JMDP if he gets him in his quarter, or are you just saying it could happen?

I would disagree if you think JMDP will beat Federer. Federer has destroyed him the 2 times they played at the Aussie, but obviously the upset could happen.

I meant that it could happen, not that I expect him to lose to DelPo. It's just that, a few years ago it was very strange for one of the big 4 to not make the semis, they almost always did. Especially Federer and Nadal. And now when I see that Federer might meet someone like Berdych I get a little nervous. While earlier I wouldn't even have cared who he met in the quarters, it only mattered who he got in the semis.

[dudeski]

Originally Posted by RF20Lennon

Federer made the semis in Australia despite having Mono like a boss!

And being the same age Nadal is now.

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by tennis_pr0

I did not search through this entire thread it's just something that seems like a very good possibility to me

lets put it this way, he has been "injured" for 6 months, and still has no clue what the injury is/was/might be,,,,,, I had a knee injury about 8?? years ago. Within a few days had an MRI, X-ray, diagnosis, treatment plan, knee surgery, and recovery plan within two weeks. There is billions of dollars riding on Nadal and his team of doctors, physicians, ATP, ITF, Tournaments, Nike, Babolat, and all his other list of sponosrs still don't know.


......and now, he will be out another two months because he has diarrhea.

Lets get real.

[monfed]

Originally Posted by Mustard

If you want players to play a lot longer, into their late 30s and beyond, hardcourt tournaments need to be heavily reduced on the tour.

There's enough clay tournaments. Grass tournaments need to be increased and carpet could make a comeback.

[abmk]

well, its sad for rafa and his fans that he isn't playing ..

But announcing that he's out because of a stomach virus a full 3 weeks before the AO ?????? really ??? something clearly isn't right !

[dyldore]

Originally Posted by abmk

well, its sad for rafa and his fans that he isn't playing ..

But announcing that he's out because of a stomach virus a full 3 weeks before the AO ?????? really ??? something clearly isn't right !

Originally Posted by dyldore

He didn't say the virus is keeping him from the AO. He said it is keeping him from playing the smaller tournaments before the AO and his doctors advised that his first tournament back not be a series of five setters. To me, it's would he rather gradually start again and play for the rest of the year, or jump into a slam and retire in the 3rd round. As a competitor I'm sure he wants to take the risk, but the smart decision is to take the extra time. It's 100x better to give an injury too much time to heal, than too little.

He wont be training in the weeks before the AO, so even if he was fine after the virus, he wouldn't have played tennis in a couple of weeks.

Originally Posted by drakulie

lets put it this way, he has been "injured" for 6 months, and still has no clue what the injury is/was/might be,,,,,, I had a knee injury about 8?? years ago. Within a few days had an MRI, X-ray, diagnosis, treatment plan, knee surgery, and recovery plan within two weeks. There is billions of dollars riding on Nadal and his team of doctors, physicians, ATP, ITF, Tournaments, Nike, Babolat, and all his other list of sponosrs still don't know.


......and now, he will be out another two months because he has diarrhea.

Lets get real.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1788561.html

8/16 some sort of tendinitis.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1851704.html

9/03 narrowed down to the specific tendon.

So they do know.

And...again...it's not the virus that is stopping him from playing, it will have passed by the time of the AO, but apparently he does not want to play a slam when he hasn't played tennis for a couple of weeks before said slam.

Edit: A doping ban is two years...so if he has still not played in two years, yeah it might have been doping.