Rafa says "noh" to tennis in February ...

Now, I haven't exactly been enthused by Rafa taking part in this exho in Abu Dhabi when he and his team are happy to release details of how much he's been struggling with a shoulder injury. And when you are made aware (with the Nadal team as the source) that he's only practised his serve for one day since the Davis Cup final, you do curse the sense of it with a Grand Slam coming up.

However, it is with total surprise that I see how the media has seemingly twisted Rafa's words into him announcing he's taking February off in order to recover from this "nagging injury"??? Erm ... where exactly did he say that? Because try as I might, all I keep finding on the subject is this report (repeated almost word-for-word across all newspapers that are reporting the story) and all Rafa says about February is that he is using it to rest and practice.

It is, though, with some disappointment that I read a tweet from The Times journalist - Neil Harman - who's generally so good on reporting about Rafa in which he said ...

"Interesting early challenge to Drewett as new ATP chief. Nadal happily plays lucrative exo then says No to month of tour tennis."

I mean, whot??? Because if Mr Harman did his research, he would see that Rafa actually scheduled NO tennis for February 2011 either, although his AO injury masked that somewhat. And indeed, there was no tennis in 2010 (injury) and the last time he played in February was in 2009, WHERE HE GOT SOUNDLY CASTIGATED BY THE MEDIA FOR KEEPING TO HIS COMMITMENT AND TURNING UP IN ROTTERDAM JUST ONE WEEK AFTER ALL HIS EXERTIONS IN THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN.

So what is it to be, eh Media??

On Twitter, @adel1906 reports this from Rafa's presser ...

"I've had very good practice but for only 1 week. This is not enough. February will be my month to practice for the rest of the year."

See that? "February will be my month to practice ..." Because, fellow Rafafans as we all know, the start of Indian Wells through to Miami, the clay court season with the FO and Wimbledon and now this year, The Olympics, is Rafa's most important and best part of the season.

I mean, using a "for instance", well ... for instance what if Federer took a month off after the US Open to rest and practice for one of his best parts of the season, you know, indoor tennis on a hardcourt in places like Sweden, Basel, Paris, The World Tour Finals. Oh ... hang on a minute ...

Maybe you'd like to suggest to Mr Drewett - as the new ATP Chief - whether he would like to look into that one, eh Mr Harman?

I ask you ... they make my blood boil.