Injury problems for Nadal before the Masters Cup start

Z

Zaragoza

Banned
Here is the original article in Spanish: http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/tenis/copa_masters/es/desarrollo/1055737.html

Google translation (some faults):

According to newspaper MARCA on Friday, Rafael Nadal had to leave last Thursday training session for a contracture in the quadriceps in his left leg. The Balearic tennis player must keep rest for two days and take anti-inflammatories to be able to enter the court on Sunday, when he will play the French Richard Gasquet in his debut in the Masters in Shanghai.

The positive news is that after an initial exploration, Nadal stayed calmer. After an initial diagnosis it seems that there will be no problems for the manacorí to debut in his first match in the Masters Tournament. "On Sunday he should be fine to play against Richard Gasquet," said his doctor, Angel Ruiz Cotorro .

This tournament brings no luck to Rafael Nadal. Two years ago, in his first appearance, Nadal had to withdraw before the start of Round Robin for a post-traumatic arthritis in the left foot. In the middle of training on Thursday, the second working session being done since his arrival to Chinese land, the manacorí was forced to stop with strong discomfort in the left leg, which prevented him from moving from side to side of the court . He practiced for half an hour with Andy Roddick, whose serve could barely return.
 
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C

caulcano

Hall of Fame
To say Nadal will recover and be OK for Sunday's game, further adds to my beilief that for his LONG-TERM benefit, he should take a complete rest.

Seriously, Nadal has be 'injured' quite a lot in 2007. I know he wants to play but he OR someone in his camp needs to realise that this is not the way to go.
 
l_gonzalez

l_gonzalez

Professional
I agree... he should take 6 months off. he's only 21. forget the ranking and defending points and all that crap. if he is serious about his long-term career he needs to take a break and address the source of his knee problems.

He needs to flatten out his game just a little bit IMO so that routine straight-set wins don't take as much out of him. Even a 6-3 6-4 win for him is very physically intense.

As far as the Masters is concerned, i don't see him doing that well, even before this injury scare i didn't think he'd get past the group stages.
 
M

Morrissey

Guest
Rhino said:
Hmmm, ready-made excuse for what looks to be a tough group.
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What excuses? The guy takes his losses on the chin and always gives credit. Don´t confuse him with Serena.
 
M

Morrissey

Guest
l_gonzalez said:
I agree... he should take 6 months off. he's only 21. forget the ranking and defending points and all that crap. if he is serious about his long-term career he needs to take a break and address the source of his knee problems.

He needs to flatten out his game just a little bit IMO so that routine straight-set wins don't take as much out of him. Even a 6-3 6-4 win for him is very physically intense.

As far as the Masters is concerned, i don't see him doing that well, even before this injury scare i didn't think he'd get past the group stages.
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OMG 6 months? Are you crazy? That would only hurt his game and his career because everyone else will be playing hard and improving their ranking while Nadal´s would drop and his form would drop due to inactivity. All that confidence and hard work would go out the window. Look how hard it is for Coria to even make some sort of a comeback and he´s been out for a year. Nadal could take 2 months off after the US Open and show up for Shanghai like Roddick did and then take the off season. That would be the best way to do it and he would be fresh for the Aussie summer. But 6 months? I´ll pretend you didn´t say that.
 
Shabazza

Shabazza

Legend
Morrissey said:
OMG 6 months? Are you crazy? That would only hurt his game and his career because everyone else will be playing hard and improving their ranking while Nadal´s would drop and his form would drop due to inactivity. All that confidence and hard work would go out the window. Look how hard it is for Coria to even make some sort of a comeback and he´s been out for a year. Nadal could take 2 months off after the US Open and show up for Shanghai like Roddick did and then take the off season. That would be the best way to do it and he would be fresh for the Aussie summer. But 6 months? I´ll pretend you didn´t say that.
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Agreed. I would say he should even consider not to play Shanghai next year (if he doesn't do well this year). And just have a 4 month rest from September till January to let his knees heal properly.
I know he is a confidence player who needs to train and play to keep up his intensity level, but I_gonzalez is right, having serious knee problems with just being 21 doesn't bode well for his long term future.
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
I have to say that I'm not the biggest Nadal fan, but sometimes he does like to make a few excuses if he loses, for example against Federer in Hamburg he was "a little tired". Guess it's normal for professional sportsmen, if you watch Top gear a lot you'll know that Jeremy Clarkson always goes on about "racing driver excuses".
 
l_gonzalez

l_gonzalez

Professional
I wasn't joking and i'll say it again: 6 months.

He has a serious problem with his knees, unless he addresses that it could mean a premature end to his career.

I know 6 months out will kill his ranking, but the guy is an awesome match player, he doesn't need to build confidence to start winning again. You mentioned Coria... he's very weak mentally. Here's a few players off the top of my head that have come back after 6 months or more out and been just as good if not better:

Haas (lost count how many times)
Kiefer
Canas
Puerta (ok, might have been aided by drugs... he's trying one more time though)
Wawrinka (i think)

Obviously i'm not his doctor, but his problem is clearly related to playing a lot of tennis.

He's not gonna need surgery, just probably some rehab and strength work on his legs. (not saying his legs are weak, there may be some sort of strength imbalance in his leg muscles which could be affecting his knees)

If he follows that up with some work on making his serve more of a weapon and flattening out his groundstrokes a little bit, I really believe he will come back an even better player with the ability to finish points quicker. This would hopefully help him to have less injuries for the rest of his career.
 
Z

Zaragoza

Banned
Rhino said:
You're not new on these boards are you? Just watch...
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Ok, it would have helped if you had been more specific. I would personally like to believe that his injuries are not real and it´s some sort of excuse so nobody should be concerned about his tendence to be injured. Unfortunately I don´t believe it.
 
GOD_BLESS_RAFA

GOD_BLESS_RAFA

Semi-Pro
ninman said:
I have to say that I'm not the biggest Nadal fan, but sometimes he does like to make a few excuses if he loses, for example against Federer in Hamburg he was "a little tired". Guess it's normal for professional sportsmen, if you watch Top gear a lot you'll know that Jeremy Clarkson always goes on about "racing driver excuses".
Click to expand...

:confused:
 
Rhino

Rhino

Legend
Zaragoza said:
Ok, it would have helped if you had been more specific. I would personally like to believe that his injuries are not real and it´s some sort of excuse so nobody should be concerned about his tendence to be injured. Unfortunately I don´t believe it.
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I believe that he's got injuries too.
But I also believe that one of the things Nadal uses to great effect is the intimidation factor. He likes to be the boss. He does things at his own pace, when he wants to, and psychologically he is saying "you bow down to me". Some on this site (and some of the people who've been around him in the locker room) have labelled this behaviour as bullying. I just think it's an effective tactic.
My point is that if he can put his defeats down to injury, he can say 'hey, I still own you, I'm just injured'.
However if you watch a match like the Paris final, Nadal looked weak and ineffective, whereas Nalbandian looked totally unplayable and in a different league, brushing aside Nadal like he's a lucky loser. Nadal loses his aura in those matches, which is damaging to his intimidating demeanor. Regardless of any injury he's in for a hard time against Djokovic and Ferrer and he knows it, so this injury seems very timely.
 
Swissv2

Swissv2

Hall of Fame
Rhino said:
Hmmm, ready-made excuse for what looks to be a tough group.
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Nadal has never made any excuses for any of his losses due to an "injury". He berated the media for trying to make him say "I lost because of my injury", and simply gave his opponent due credit. If you honestly think Nadal is intentionally injuring himself so he doesn't have to play people he already knows he is capable of beating, that is ridiculous.

So please be quiet before you continue to make a fool of yourself.
 
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Rhino

Rhino

Legend
Swissv2 said:
Nadal has never made any excuses for any of his losses due to an "injury". He berated the media for trying to make him say "I lost because of my injury", and simply gave his opponent due credit. If you honestly think Nadal is intentionally injuring himself so he doesn't have to play people he already knows he is capable of beating, that is ridiculous.

So please be quiet before you continue to make a fool of yourself.
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I answered your post already, see the one above yours.
Nobody has ever said Nadal intentionally injures himself, thats a little bit ridiculous. It's better if you keep your mouth shut and have people think you are a fool than to open it and remove any lingering doubt.
 
malakas

malakas

Banned
Rhino said:
I believe that he's got injuries too.
But I also believe that one of the things Nadal uses to great effect is the intimidation factor. He likes to be the boss. He does things at his own pace, when he wants to, and psychologically he is saying "you bow down to me". Some on this site (and some of the people who've been around him in the locker room) have labelled this behaviour as bullying. I just think it's an effective tactic.
My point is that if he can put his defeats down to injury, he can say 'hey, I still own you, I'm just injured'.
However if you watch a match like the Paris final, Nadal looked weak and ineffective, whereas Nalbandian looked totally unplayable and in a different league, brushing aside Nadal like he's a lucky loser. Nadal loses his aura in those matches, which is damaging to his intimidating demeanor. Regardless of any injury he's in for a hard time against Djokovic and Ferrer and he knows it, so this injury seems very timely.
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I agree.Also it would be a good idea for Nadal,as some posters above have mentioned to take a long break and give his knees a change to heal properly.4 months would be fine imo.
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
Rhino said:
I answered your post already, see the one above yours.
Nobody has ever said Nadal intentionally injures himself, thats a little bit ridiculous. It's better if you keep your mouth shut and have people think you are a fool than to open it and remove any lingering doubt.
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I love that, Nadal intentionally injuring himself. I can just imagine him sitting at home twisting his knees in awkward ways to try and tear his ligaments. I think that would make a great comedy sketch.
 
Rhino

Rhino

Legend
ninman said:
I love that, Nadal intentionally injuring himself. I can just imagine him sitting at home twisting his knees in awkward ways to try and tear his ligaments. I think that would make a great comedy sketch.
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Yeah you can imagine the press conference too. "I've been self-harming all week, it affects my game, I just don't have the movement..."
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
In all seriousness, with Nadal's mentality you'd think he'd be MORE careful with his body not less. For example at the USO he said if it was any other tournament he'd have pulled out, but he decided to play injured because it was slam. Silly decision in my opinion. He only had a few points to defend, and was never going to win with an injury so why not just pull out and let your body heal properly?
 
O

Ossric

Semi-Pro
Rhino said:
Hmmm, ready-made excuse for what looks to be a tough group.
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Nadal is never one to make excuses or slight his opponents if he's not 100% I doubt that's part of his game plan to have an excuse ready in the event of a loss.
 
8

8PAQ

Banned
ninman said:
In all seriousness, with Nadal's mentality you'd think he'd be MORE careful with his body not less. For example at the USO he said if it was any other tournament he'd have pulled out, but he decided to play injured because it was slam. Silly decision in my opinion. He only had a few points to defend, and was never going to win with an injury so why not just pull out and let your body heal properly?
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Because he wants to be #1 at any cost.
 
O

Ossric

Semi-Pro
ninman said:
In all seriousness, with Nadal's mentality you'd think he'd be MORE careful with his body not less. For example at the USO he said if it was any other tournament he'd have pulled out, but he decided to play injured because it was slam. Silly decision in my opinion. He only had a few points to defend, and was never going to win with an injury so why not just pull out and let your body heal properly?
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He's young, he's careless and he loves tennis.
 
O

Ossric

Semi-Pro
Rhino said:
Yeah you can imagine the press conference too. "I've been self-harming all week, it affects my game, I just don't have the movement..."
Click to expand...

Ya, I hit my knees on purpose, no?
It makes me stronger, no?
I think a little be challenge if I'm not 100% I think, ya, no?
 
O

Ossric

Semi-Pro
ninman said:
But sometimes the cost is a little too high, in this case I think it is. He's competing with possibly the greatest player of all time.
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That and some good competition. Djokovic will improve and be a major tournament threat if not next year the year after if he isn't considered one already.

The chance at #1 early in 2008 is not worth shortening his career a few years in my opinion, but it's only his opinion that matters in this.
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
You have to think about Federer as well this year pulled out of his usual year opener, pulled out of Halle, then Tokyo in an effort to prevent injury, in all honesty he'd have been better playing those and skipping a couple of MS, would've had more titles and more points.
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
Ossric said:
That and some good competition. Djokovic will improve and be a major tournament threat if not next year the year after if he isn't considered one already.

The chance at #1 early in 2008 is not worth shortening his career a few years in my opinion, but it's only his opinion that matters in this.
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The other thing is that the chances are Federer will make at least the semi's and Nadal has yet to get past the quarters of any hardcourt slam. Also if he did somehow make the number 1 spot, which will be unlikely if Federer wins the MC, he'd only keep it for a short time because Federer will make up the difference at IW and Miami and take him over again, then the clay season will roll around, and Nadal cannot gain any points at all, but Federer can by winning Monte Carlo, Rome or Roland Garros.
 
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8

8PAQ

Banned
ninman said:
The other thing is that the chances are Federer will make at least the semi's and Nadal has yet to get past the quarters of any hardcourt slam. Also if he did somehow make the number 1 spot, which will be unlikely if Federer wins the MC, he'd only keep it for a short time because Federer will make up the difference at IW and Miami and take him over again, then the clay season will roll around, and Nadal cannot gain any points at all, but Federer can by winning Monte Carlo, Rome or Roland Garros.
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No worries. Nadal will probably win a total of 0 matches at MC. The he will have an early exit at AO.
 
O

Ossric

Semi-Pro
ninman said:
The other thing is that the chances are Federer will make at least the semi's and Nadal has yet to get past the quarters of any hardcourt slam. Also if he did somehow make the number 1 spot, which will be unlikely if Federer wins the MC, he'd only keep it for a short time because Federer will make up the difference at IW and Miami and take him over again, then the clay season will roll around, and Nadal cannot gain any points at all, but Federer can by winning Monte Carlo, Rome or Roland Garros.
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Yeah I agree.

The thing I find funny though is people act as though the gap is close when they forget that in order for Federer to lose top spot, not only doe she have to lose very early in the tournament, Nadal has to win it.

The stars and moon and sun must all align, and that's very unlikely, especially when Federer will be at his best coming off two losses to Nalbandian and wanting to let the top 8 in the world know he still dominates them.
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
Ossric said:
Yeah I agree.

The thing I find funny though is people act as though the gap is close when they forget that in order for Federer to lose top spot, not only doe she have to lose very early in the tournament, Nadal has to win it.

The stars and moon and sun must all align, and that's very unlikely, especially when Federer will be at his best coming off two losses to Nalbandian and wanting to let the top 8 in the world know he still dominates them.
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Exactly, and if he did play Nalbandian at the AO he'd make sure he beat him good and proper. Nalbandian would no doubt get the Canas treatment, because he'd want to remove any thoughts that Nalbandian is a long term threat to him.
 
O

Ossric

Semi-Pro
ninman said:
Exactly, and if he did play Nalbandian at the AO he'd make sure he beat him good and proper. Nalbandian would no doubt get the Canas treatment, because he'd want to remove any thoughts that Nalbandian is a long term threat to him.
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Not to mention Federer still has a winning record against him. Nalbandian is playing lights out at the moment, but that's what people don't realize. He's playing about as good as he can. He can't keep that level up. Hopefully he doesn, the tennis world could use another great, but I don't think that's gonna happen.
 
federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
I am no Nadal fan but I find it funny so many of you think he wont be in the semis. Gasquet is certainly not favorite over Nadal on any surface. Ferrers win over Nadal at the U.S Open was a career win, it would be hard for him to beat Nadal twice in a row. I would be pretty surprised if Djokovic and and Nadal are not the two to make it out, in one order or the other.

As for Federers half, some say it is easy, but it is only easy because it is him. Roddick or Davydenko are both bigger threats then Gasquet or Ferrer to most anyone, it is just that Federer has their numbers. In a sense Federers half is harder in that it has 3 of the 5 toughest players, although Nadals has 2 of the toughest 3.
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
federerfanatic said:
I am no Nadal fan but I find it funny so many of you think he wont be in the semis. Gasquet is certainly not favorite over Nadal on any surface. Ferrers win over Nadal at the U.S Open was a career win, it would be hard for him to beat Nadal twice in a row. I would be pretty surprised if Djokovic and and Nadal are not the two to make it out, in one order or the other.

As for Federers half, some say it is easy, but it is only easy because it is him. Roddick or Davydenko are both bigger threats then Gasquet or Ferrer to most anyone, it is just that Federer has their numbers. In a sense Federers half is harder in that it has 3 of the 5 toughest players, although Nadals has 2 of the toughest 3.
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What you have to remember is that all 3 matches Nadal played with Gasquet were on clay, their only hardcourt meeting was in the Challengers in 2003 and Gasquet won.
 
zagor

zagor

Bionic Poster
ninman said:
What you have to remember is that all 3 matches Nadal played with Gasquet were on clay, their only hardcourt meeting was in the Challengers in 2003 and Gasquet won.
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I love Gasguet's game and I would love to see him beat Nadal,for sure he has a chance because they play on carpet(probably Nadal's worst surface)but Nadal is the favourite because he is much stronger mentally.
 
S

simi

Hall of Fame
ninman said:
I'm sure if the MC people asked him nicely he might be willing to put it off for a week.
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It's Friday. He would be scheduled to play in two days. He most likely hasn't even touched a racket since Paris. Besides, it takes more than a half a day to fly from Argentina to China. Ain't gonna happen.
 
S

simi

Hall of Fame
Ossric said:
The thing I find funny though is people act as though the gap is close when they forget that in order for Federer to lose top spot, not only doe she have to lose very early in the tournament, Nadal has to win it.
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Thought I heard somewhere that Federer has already clinched the year-end ratings race, (i.e., finishing the year ranked #1). Is this not true?
 
M

Morrissey

Guest
8PAQ said:
No worries. Nadal will probably win a total of 0 matches at MC. The he will have an early exit at AO.
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Then YOU will have something to worry about because those things aren´t going to happen. I see the last page has been occupied mainly by Nadal haters. Albeit they´ve been rather suspiciously tame. Time to come in and bring out the bug repellent. Bzzzz
 
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