Rafa withdraws from Queens

According to his Official Site, Rafa will not play at the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club.

I am very disappointed to not be able to come this year to Queen’s, defend the title I won last year and enjoy playing there in front of that very knowledgeable crowds. To play in London has always been special for me, to play at the Queen’s Club an honour and the fans in the UK are among the best I have ever seen, always supporting me since the first time I played there.

I have been having some problems in the past months with my knees, that’s no secret, that did not allow me to compete at 100% always.

I need to work with my team to recover well, work on my physical condition to be at my top form and get ready for the grass to play at Wimbledon. I hope I can be ready to compete by then.

I am really sorry and I hope that the people at the Club will still want me to come next year.

Rafa

Thanks to everyone alerted me so I knew about this right when I woke up. *sigh* If you find stories with more information, please link to them in the comments.

Links:
Queen’s site
Metro

I think Rafa has a bit of a Catch-22 with his knees. If he doesn’t wear the tapes, he risks inflaming the tendinitis. But, according to my physical therapist, if he wears the tapes during all his matches and practices (given that they are his main form of physical training), he risks improving all the muscles and tendons around the taped ones to the point where his system is out of balance in a way that is also problematic and has long-term consequences. Of course, it’s not like my therapist has any real information pertinent to Rafa’s condition, he was just speaking generally.

5 Jun 2009 | 75 Comments