Nadal: Give me more time, Don't Judge me!

[Feña14]

I think he did well reaching the final in his comeback. The knee is something that has bothered him for years, to be out because of it for 7 months is a big deal. To come back and not be worrying about it in the back of his mind straight away is too much to ask, in my opinion.

He played pretty solidly and got to know where his body is at in terms of match fitness, i'd say it was a worthwhile week.

[mariecon]

Originally Posted by cc0509

Don't get your hopes up, I am not sure it will happen. These guys are protected when they are cash cows bringing money in.

Yup. He'll play the clay season then probably "disappear" again for the rest of the season. Clay tournies are all that's left for him. The clay season has become so boring because of him. People just watch to see if there's an upset.

[OddJack]

I am just amazed how some of you guys still dont get it.

So casual....oh yeah, well 7 months away, he will be back to normal....

This guy is not super human, Hello? There is a limit for anything human, pain, patience, knee, endurance, tendons, nerves...etc etc..

For how long someone can play trough pain? How many years? have you guys heard of something called "Burnt" or "Spent"??

Can you guys look at history and look at those with 3 or more RG titles and see what they did past their 27th birth date?

Nadal will do worse the more he plays, period.

[dafinch]

Originally Posted by cc0509

Don't get your hopes up, I am not sure it will happen. These guys are protected when they are cash cows bringing money in.

Oh, I'm not talking about a PUBLIC ban for BP, I'm talking about getting dismantled ON COURT. He may rack up in some rinky dink dirt tournaments, though the most recent attempt to do that didn't turn out all that well, but I don't see him winning RG, let alone any other majors...

[dafinch]

Originally Posted by OddJack

I am just amazed how some of you guys still dont get it.

So casual....oh yeah, well 7 months away, he will be back to normal....

This guy is not super human, Hello? There is a limit for anything human, pain, patience, knee, endurance, tendons, nerves...etc etc..

For how long someone can play trough pain? How many years? have you guys heard of something called "Burnt" or "Spent"??

Can you guys look at history and look at those with 3 or more RG titles and see what they did past their 27th birth date?

Nadal will do worse the more he plays, period.

I made EXACTLY the same point expressed in your last 2 sentences just a few moments ago to somebody who whined, "Federer never had the injuries Nadal had!" as if that's at all surprising, "unlucky," or relevant.

[cc0509]

Originally Posted by mariecon

Yup. He'll play the clay season then probably "disappear" again for the rest of the season. Clay tournies are all that's left for him. The clay season has become so boring because of him. People just watch to see if there's an upset.

I can't stand watching clay tennis at the best of times, it is like watching grass grow.

[monfed]

Originally Posted by OddJack

I am just amazed how some of you guys still dont get it.

So casual....oh yeah, well 7 months away, he will be back to normal....

This guy is not super human, Hello? There is a limit for anything human, pain, patience, knee, endurance, tendons, nerves...etc etc..

For how long someone can play trough pain? How many years? have you guys heard of something called "Burnt" or "Spent"??

Can you guys look at history and look at those with 3 or more RG titles and see what they did past their 27th birth date?

Nadal will do worse the more he plays, period.

All those adjectives while they do apply to a degree don't override the fact that Ralph's moonballing is something 90% of the tour can't handle apart from Djokovic 2.0 and maybe Lendilised Murray(still to be seen).

Nadal's game is risk-free,with a lot of margin, he just waits and waits for an error and on these slow surfaces he gets them more often than not, so he eventually wins even if he plays subpar. This is why he's almost unbeatable on clay,especially with the quality of clay courters of this generation.

[Vrad]

Originally Posted by cc0509

It has been seven months, surely the tendons have healed by now. Why is he still talking about pain?

Well, apparently it was healed in December, remember? Nadal was gonna play the Aus Open if it wasn't for the flu. The knee wasn't a problem at all then...

But some more rest and healing time means it has become a problem now.

[OddJack]

Originally Posted by monfed

All those adjectives while they do apply to a degree don't override the fact that Ralph's moonballing is something 90% of the tour can't handle apart from Djokovic 2.0 and maybe Lendilised Murray(still to be seen).

Nadal's game is risk-free,with a lot of margin, he just waits and waits for an error and on these slow surfaces he gets them more often than not, so he eventually wins even if he plays subpar. This is why he's almost unbeatable on clay,especially with the quality of clay courters of this generation.

He's unbeatable-- He is, or he was?

The story you are saying is old. We have heard it before, does not apply anymore. He does not have the knees to run down every ball and wait for errors. Now in longer rallies, he is the one who fails.

The sings were there, before his wimbledon exit. " I get tired of competition" ..." I had less passion for tennis" ...that was 2011

BTW, you cant win big titles by beating 90% of the tour. Wozi will tell you that.

He is in state of denial right now. His career has stalled. We may see flashes of his great days, maybe even some masters cups, but that's abut it. It's beginning of the end for him.

[monfed]

Originally Posted by OddJack

He's unbeatable-- He is, or he was?

The story you are saying is old. We have heard it before, does not apply anymore. He does not have the knees to run down every ball and wait for errors. Now in longer rallies, he is the one who fails.

The sings were there, before his wimbledon exit. " I get tired of competition" ..." I had less passion for tennis" ...that was 2011

He is in state of denial right now. His career has stalled. We may see flashes of his great days, maybe even some masters cups, but that's abut it. It's beginning of the end for him.

I wouldn't read too much into Vina del Mar, prefer to wait till after RG.
Besides you were saying the same thing in 2012 but Ralph went unbeaten on red clay that season.

[Tanya]

i'll still marry you rafa, even if you are a loser!

[OddJack]

Originally Posted by monfed

I wouldn't read too much into Vina del Mar, prefer to wait till after RG.
Besides you were saying the same thing in 2012 but Ralph went unbeaten on red clay that season.

He played through pain and injury apparently, and paid dearly for it.

Now for next 4 months he has a bunch of points to defend, his ranking may still fall. It's much harder to repeat his 2012 season.

[dafinch]

Originally Posted by cc0509

I can't stand watching clay tennis at the best of times, it is like watching grass grow.

Lol, what, watching bandy legged retrievers "construct" a point doesn't do it for you? I hated playing on it, too, felt like I was on roller skates if I hit an approach, and, as such, practically had to hit a winner on an approach shot-and, last but not least, the lovely red clay caking my socks.

[tata]

It's true. Don't write him off just yet. I am a Fed fan but Rafa's got this.

[Chanwan]

Originally Posted by OddJack

Well, he says his knee still hurts.

So playing pro tennis is going to make it better or worse?

If it gets worse how is he supposed to get better by playing more?

From Toni and Nadal's comments I gather that they expect it to away by the end of February - courtesy of three clay tournaments, including doubles in at least two of them.
If you don't see the casual relationship between playing a lot and the pain going away, I don't blame you.
One would assume that either it's not there now, or that will be worse by the end of the month after playing three tournaments.

[Chanwan]

Originally Posted by Vrad

Well, apparently it was healed in December, remember? Nadal was gonna play the Aus Open if it wasn't for the flu. The knee wasn't a problem at all then...

But some more rest and healing time means it has become a problem now.

Makes sense doesn't it?...

[Crisstti]

Originally Posted by mariecon

Yup. He'll play the clay season then probably "disappear" again for the rest of the season. Clay tournies are all that's left for him. The clay season has become so boring because of him. Bitter *******s just watch to see if there's an upset.

Fixed your post.

Originally Posted by Vrad

Well, apparently it was healed in December, remember? Nadal was gonna play the Aus Open if it wasn't for the flu. The knee wasn't a problem at all then...

But some more rest and healing time means it has become a problem now.

Sigh. The knee was a problem. He had said then he was going to play Abu Dhabi and according to how he felt see about the Doha and the AO.

You just don't know what you're talking about.

[Fiji]

Originally Posted by OddJack

I am just amazed how some of you guys still dont get it.

So casual....oh yeah, well 7 months away, he will be back to normal....

This guy is not super human, Hello? There is a limit for anything human, pain, patience, knee, endurance, tendons, nerves...etc etc..

For how long someone can play trough pain? How many years? have you guys heard of something called "Burnt" or "Spent"??

Can you guys look at history and look at those with 3 or more RG titles and see what they did past their 27th birth date?

Nadal will do worse the more he plays, period.

Good post.

Players that won 3 or more RGs in the open era:

Rafael Nadal 7 2005 2012
Björn Borg 6 1974 1981
Ivan Lendl 3 1984 1987
Mats Wilander 3 1982 1988
Gustavo Kuerten 3 1997 2001

Wilander won his last RG at age 23 - 24th birthday in August.
Kuerten won his last RG at age 24 - 25th birthday in September.
Borg won his last RG at age 25 - one day after turning 25.
Nadal won his last(?) RG at age 26 - eight days after 26th birthday.
Lendl is the only one who won RG past his 27th birthday in 1987. His 27th birthday was in March of that year. He won his last RG title 3 months after turning 27.

[vernonbc]

Originally Posted by veroniquem

It's healed but it has not been used intensively (competitively) for 7 months. So there's a bit of getting used to, no big deal hopefully.

Good article from the BBC talking about Rafa's type of injury. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/21309064

"If you have a basic tendinopathy, when a few fibres are damaged, you're still looking at a three- to six-month recovery, because the cells within the tendon are very, very slow at regenerating.

"The secret is to do a progressive loading programme on the tendon to stimulate those cells to the new load.

"You want a relatively short period of rest, and then you need to reload it within the tendon's tolerance.

"That's what can go wrong with athletes - they don't give enough time and sufficient progressive loading stimulus to these cells to allow them to lay down new tissue, which can get stronger and reform the rope.

"That's why it takes a long time."

"The nature of that injury means an athlete is likely to get some pain when they load the knee at competition levels, but I'd be concerned if they were still feeling pain and hadn't done a significant amount of sport-oriented loading in advance.

"The tendon is load-intolerant now, so in a Slam-type tournament over two weeks solid there will be a consequence of that."

So Rafa is doing his "competition loading" now. Hopefully, his knee will feel better soon.

[Nostradamus]

Why is the knee still bothering him when the CT scan say it is all healed now and his doctor told him the same thing. ?