Alarming news has been breaking over the weekend with reports essentially saying the same thing that Rafa's knee injury could be serious and his participation at Wimbledon could be under threat.Essentially, he sustained the injury back in Miami and has been working through it ever since. The Rafacrew had hoped that it would last out until after Wimbledon when he would have around a month's time off, but its not held out. Rafa today went to Barcelona for further tests and the prognosis will be delivered tomorrow. Is it worse for him to withdraw from the competition, thereby give up on his title and give others, ie. Feds the chance to lift his hard-earned crown, or to turn up less than 100% and potentially run the risk of a Soderling?
Here's one of the reports run over the weekend ...
After having declared its absence in Queen’ s, Rafael Nadal could not be able to defend his title in Wimbledon. because of a painful knee, as Toni Nadal, the uncle and trainer of the player tells us in an exclusive interview.
Toni Nadal, what is Rafael undergoing?
Rafael has a problem in the right knee (edema,) since Miami, and this kept getting worse, So now we have decided to stop. He played with this in Madrid, Monte-Carlo and, Roland-Garros. Every time, it was a little worse.
It is because of this pain that Rafael lost against Soderling in the fourth round?
He lost,, that’s all, we are not going to talk about this after the match. The pain was there from the first day. Since Madrid, he played with a specific treatment preparation by the doctor and the physiotherapist of the Spanish equipment of the Davis Cup.
Why did Rafael not speak of it after his defeat against Söderling?
We are now talking about it because Rafael is not going to Queen’s tournament, otherwise we wouldn’t have mentioned it. Many players play with physical annoyances.
In Madrid, the doctor did not underestimate the gravity of Rafael’s injury?
No, the doctor said that it was not serious but it was painful when the player tried to bend. As long as he could endure the injury, he could play. We saw well that Rafael had difficulty to move in Roland-Garros.
Will Rafael go to Wimbledon?
We will see. Monday and Tuesday, He’ll go to Barcelona to pass examinations, and later we will decide what we will do. We will do whatever the doctors tell us we should do.
Are you optimistic?
Oh no, I am not optimistic at all. Of course, if there is an opportunity to play the most important tournament of the season, he will try. We will see.
Is Rafael affected by all this?
Very much so. He is affected, it is normal, because he sees that he’s been hampered in Roland-Garros, a very important tournament for us, and now his presence in Wimbledon is uncertain."
==============================================
And to top it all ... Feds won the French Open, quelle surprise. Today he talked about his victory and Rafa's injury with his usual magnanimity ...
"It's different for me to come through this way, instead of just dominating everybody."
"I feel I've definitely become more a man now, the last few years, where I'm not scared of five-setters anymore. I can handle the pressure."
Federer's run of five consecutive Wimbledon titles ended with a five-set loss to Nadal in last year's final. The 27-year-old Swiss star considers himself the man to beat this time. "I do think I'm the favorite, actually, with all the success I've had," Federer said.
Federer expects to see his nemesis at the All England Club. "It seems like it's not 100 percent serious, his knee injury. I only wish him the best and I hope it's not true that he will miss Wimbledon. I think it's a lot of speculation at the moment," Federer said. "He wasn't taping his knees here in Paris. He seemed fine, (from) what I saw, anyway. I've played him so many times, I can tell when he's in pain and when he's not."
I CAN TELL WHEN HE'S IN PAIN OR NOT ... God, I can't stand him.
Rafa's prognosis is due to be placed on his website at 1.30 pm tomorrow. Can't decide whether or not I'd prefer him to go or stay away ...
No comments:
Post a Comment