Rafa's parents separate ...

The rumours have been around for so long now, we've almost got used to them. I think it was even last summer-time that I first read the report that Rafa's parents were to separate. But that wasn't long after Wimbledon, and the united front they displayed there belied the rumour.

But we've all noticed a different Rafa from the start of the US hardcourt season in Spring. Laboured, distracted, the infamous headband moving scruffily up his head. We now know of his health issues, and the pain he has been playing through, but what did he ever mean by the infamous Miami presser after his defeat to Del Potro ... "its personal".

It now, however, has been formally reported in the Timesonline, a paper that patronises Rafa and within which he co-operates, that his parents have indeed separated. This must be a massive blow to Rafa, the fabric of his family life that means so much to him and within which he receives such succour has been irreparably altered. His mental state must also have surely been affected and all things considered, its a wonder that he has kept going.

We wish him continued support in this most trying of times. Here's how it was reported in Timesonline:-

"Right now, such sensitive matters are on the mind of Nadal, at home in Majorca. For many weeks there have been whispers that all was not uncomplicated in the Nadal household, that his parents, Sebastian and Ana María, who hugged their son on the most joyous day of his life a year ago, had separated. Yesterday, we discovered that that was, in fact, the case, that Nadal had been playing in such a fog for the past couple of months, he should have been wearing luminous clothing. He is crushed and any fair-minded person has to be crushed for him.

Imagine what it has been like, trying to do your duty by yourself, your team and your profession and yet having to perform when your heart is elsewhere, the distressing nightly calls home, the wish that it were not so, the desire for a reconciliation.

Nadal never mentioned it, he played and hoped. He talked about resetting his body after having to withdraw from the championships with problem knees and yet he has a more difficult task, resetting his entire life. We wish him well. "