Out a month?
Photo by TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/ AFP/ Getty Images
At least, that’s what this article at marca.com suggests. (Thanks to Jamee for sending in the link.) Google translation:
An MRI ruled today the precise scope of the Injury
Nadal will be out for a month …After solving their problems in the foot with the templates, the knees have now become the main Achilles heel of Spanish • He will miss at least the tournament in Rotterdam and the Davis Cup
JOAN SOLSONA. Melbourne 28/01/10 – 13:20
Rafael Nadal at noon yesterday morning in Melbourne. There was no hurry because his flight back to Spain, via Doha, leaving at 23.00. He left the hotel with his agent at Nike, Jordi Robert, and his face reflected the concern of the results reported yesterday BRAND. If confirmed as suffering a torn quadriceps tendon in his right leg, the tennis player will at least for a month, which will miss Rotterdam and the Davis Cup, while their share in Indian Wells will be a mystery. A total of 1,300 locations, without defense, relegating him to sixth in the ATP rankings. He would advance so hopelessly Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro in the world rankings.
To clarify the diagnosis and extent of the injury, Nadal will take place this afternoon an MRI in the clinic TOP of Barcelona, under the supervision of your doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro. The ultrasound imaging was done in Melbourne at the conclusion of his quarterfinal match with Andy Murray, revealed a tear in the quadriceps tendon. Depending on the amount of broken fibers, the most damaged and the biomechanics of player-for a lefty is worst right leg injury, will establish the final time low. But the reality is that the 30 days of planned Nadal preseason to prepare the hardcourt U.S. tour will become a heavy and lengthy rehabilitation.
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I just :(
:( I hope he gets well soon.
He should take as much time as he needs. not rush back. maybe return on clay, and work his way into the season. Him being healthy is the only important thing now, forget ranking!!!!!!!
I agree.
You are right; ranking doesn’t matter at all. As soon as he is well, he’ll be back up higher in the ranks. The important thing is to get well, and STAY WELL. The rankings will work themselves out in the end. Even he knows this.
Yes dear rafa, please take care of your health. ranking is not important at all. the most important thing is to stay healthy so that you can compete at your best level. the ranking and the seedings are not important. as long as you are competitive and playing at your highest potential, you can beat almost anyone so the seedings do not matter.
It’s hard to tell if the article is reporting what HAS happened, vs what WILL happen IF…..
Perhaps a Spanish speaker could shed some light on this (hint hint)
oh noooo!!!….i just want you to get well, Rafa…..don’t pay attention to the rankings, it will be easy for you to go up again once you are healthy again :-))
VAMOS!!!
:((((((((((( Poor Rafa.
Wish I wasn’t medically clueless. What does a ‘torn quadriceps tendon’ mean? Is it tendinitis? Worsening tendinitis? Or can it be caused by a ‘bad movement’?
Agree that he shouldn’t worry about rankings. Am sure he realises that coming back too soon to protect rankings would backfire, if he had to take more time off/performed badly because of injury.
If he has to miss IW, it might make sense that he miss Miami as well. HCs are so hard on the body and it won’t provide rhythm for the clay season anyway.
Tendons are small pieces of tissue that hold the knee in place and all the muscles as well. It can be painful but will heal in time. It isn’t tendonitis – anything with itis on the end means inflammation of. This is a small tear but he should take the time to just do exercises and rest. This is a bummer tho.
Thanks so much!! Other reports were that there was swelling which he was icing, and waiting for it to go down before more could be known. With absolutely no knowledge, I was thinking maybe overworked tendons were more liable to tear.
As eager as I am to see him at Miami or Indian Wells, LIVE, I can easily deal with his absence from the US HC season altogether, if necessary.
I read it in Spanish, it says Rafa’s exams showed a torn quadriceps in the right leg, but we don’t know the details yet. There will be further exams in Mallorca. It explains that he could drop to No6 cause he’ll certainly miss Rotterdam and the DC, and he could miss Indian Wells too.
Then goes a flashback of Rafa’s career and his entry into the top 10, how long he’s been there etc.
Oh my God then it mentions Rafa’s past injuries, I’m in pain just reading them through.
It also mentions it was Toni who told him to retire, and that Rafa as always wanted to continue. (Thank you, Toni)
The article ends with Agassi’s prediction that Rafa wouldn’t last long playing such a physical game etc.
I refuse to believe this is the end. It is a difficult and unlucky situation, but as Rafa says, bad luck isn’t eternal.
why do we care what agassi says? i hate all these so-called experts who came out and make assumptions and try to act like they were visionaries looking into a crystal ball.
was it not agassi who predicted that rafa could complete the calendar slam this same time last year?
glad rafa took heed of what uncle toni said though.
I guess the media always mention the part that serves their story. Rafa is injured, they report what Agassi had said about Rafa’s physical game. If he had completed the calendar slam they would have mentioned that Agassi had predicted that too.
Agassi just says what has happened. Rafa wins Australian Open, he says he can make a calender slam. Rafa gets injured, he says his game is too physical. He says Rafa’s time has passed, but adds (just incase) if he can maintain his health he can win more slams.
I like Kafelnikov’s comments. He recently said that “I was thinking Rafa’s career would be short because of his style. But when i saw how he skipped Wimbledon and took care of his body, i changed my mind. I think he will take care of himself and will play for many years”. Maybe it is just because i want to hear something rather than “Rafa’s career will be very short”, but i really liked this comment when i read it.
I’m not sure Agassi made the comment now that Rafa is injured. I think this is an old comment and the article just brings it up now.
He made the “The time of Rafa and Federer is over, Mrray will be next best player” comment after Rafa withdraw from Wimbledon, just before his book came out. But yes, he didn’t make any comments recently. I’m not sure if he did any comments about anything at all after his meth issues were revealed.
If this is a tear and has nothing whatsoever to do with his tendonitis, then that is just seriously f******g, major c**k sucking UNLUCKY for lovely Rafa. Nothing else.
I needed to say that.
Now take your time, get better and come back with a vengeance, sweetheart!
To me it’s a sign he needs to stretch more. It seems he mainly relies on Maymo to do deep stretches. Boy needs to start doing deep stretches on his own – active stretching is so much more effective than passive. Long muscles are less prone to injury than shortened ones.
I think he needs some yoga…
I agree Miri. I was doing my Bikram yoga and was thinking of Rafa needing the same training when this news simultaneously came alive in the internet. I hope he’ll reconsider. Flexibility can prevent many injuries especially on the joints, muscles and tendons.
Yeah, but stretching is boring, no? I need to do stretching too, I never do… ;)
No, seriously, I’m sure you are right. I hope he takes your advice!
He will not be bored, he will have me to train him…:)
But seriously, of course, we all hope what’s best for Rafa.
*coughs*
I teach Bikram.
Rafa,
It can be taught with one or both parties naked.
Just sayin’.
*coughs*
P.S. CC, you can watch. ;)
I normally snicker at things like yoga, but maybe…yeah…I might even join in. ;)
Ooooh, a yoga class, count me in. Can we start now Rafa?
That is probably a very good idea miri … there is lots of research to suggest that yoga actually helps to ‘relax’ muscles. I think the firework break was quite dangerous for these two players in that it was a cool night and the stop and start could easily have caused a tightening of muscles … hence the break or tear in the tendon.
Now if, during this break, he had stripped down , got his yogic pals CC and natch on the court , and indulged us all in a deep breathing, stretching session not only would we all have merged with a greater consciousness but Rafa might still have a healthy(ish) knee.
And every match he’d play from now on out would be a super-sell out if they promised nekked or semi-nekked yoga between sets. :D
(And on a serious note, I agree that the inactive time during the fireworks could well have a lot to do with the injury. And…Murray does yoga – or at least did last year – just saying.) ;)
ha ha miri … you said nekkid.
You know … Andy Murray has great balance and Rafa … has been falling down a lot. Yep, yoga must be the way to go..
Yoga, it’s what manly men do. ;D
I HEART Ray Lewis! :D
it’s ok if he misses the american hard court season.
I think he should just focus on the clay court season and focus on reclaiming the french open and possibly wimbledon, where I think rafa can really have a good chance if he plays well and is well-rested.
I’m soooo sad, It’s terrible! We hope everything will be allright! Rafa’s health is more important than any rankings and any tournament!
Forget Agassis’s words. This is only Agassis’s words. He’s not a God.
RAFA WILL GET WELL IN SOON! HE”S SOO YOUNG! HE’LL COME BACK!
Don’t thing about rankins!
TAKE CARE, RAFITO!
omigosh! rafa, noooooooooooooooooooooo! :((
i hope he recovers well and i agree that he should just come back during the clay season…
rafa. :((
You are probably right Miri about the stretching, I was always told how important it is after training.
What a psychological blow to Rafa! even though its physical it seems one injury after another, and he had said that during the 2 week off season how much work he had put in, he played really well but hard in Doha before a tricky draw at the A.O, I hope he can stay positive and look forward to his favourite part of the season, darn just as he was playing himself into awsome form, this sucks, but you are all right, his health must come first, not the rankings, GOD BLESS YOU RAFA. PRAYING FOR YOU ALL THE WAY SWEETHEART!!!
There are some videos of Nadal’s stretching and the pre-match and post-match warm up routine. I think it’s (probably) the most intensive in the game. Quadriceps lengthening is one of the first things any half decent physio does with knee problems. So I doubt Rafa lacks in the stretching and flexibility. I think he’s unfortunate genetically with his knees, small feet and muscular imbalance. Those would be fine for a normal person but perhaps not for an athlete of his caliber.
Nadal has also successfully truncated his playing style recently and does much “less” running than he used to before ( that’s true especially in 2010). I doubt he ran more than Murray in the AO QF match for ex, where he was dictating play for several pts. Add to this his weight reduction, which helps the knees immensely. That’s why a relapse of the injury is very disappointing, when he took so many precautions.
It seems that Nadal would be out of the Top 5 when he returns. If I were him I wouldn’t play IW or Miami. True, he has 1000 pts to defend from IW, but playing that as the first tournament (after injury) means that he’s unlikely to defend them. So, this time he should resume on the right note at Clay. That way he can probably make a winning start, which should be very useful for his fragile confidence. Then build his momentum from there and carry it on to the grass season.
jimmy, I agree with what you say.
I cannot see a professional athlete like Rafa, with his history of knee problems, not knowing what stretches to do, or how to do them properly. If he doesn’t know, he seriously needs to look at the people he’s working with.
With regards to Rafa skipping tourneys, I think he should come back when he’s properly healed. If that is before, during or after Indian Wells, doesn’t matter, no?
Yes, he stretches, but due to his disposition to short muscles (is he really that much more muscular than most of the guys on the tour? I don’t think so – his just shorten and thus are showier than most of them), he needs to do a hell of a lot more stretching than most of the guys on the tour. Granted, this is all based on discussions with my own PT who is just a fan and has never treated Rafa before, but he thinks he sees signs of a lack of flexibility. He wasn’t impressed by what he called the “minimal” stretches he saw in those DVD workout vids that came out awhile ago.
Of course, he was telling me all this while inflicting great pain on my hip, so I could be hazy on the details.
Well, if Rafa doesn’t do the stretches he needs to do, the way he needs to do them, then he and his team are stupid. Or lazy. Or both.
I don’t get it.
Don’t care about the ranking. We simply want to see Nadal healthy and fully fit.
Wish him a speedy recovery. VAMOS RAFA!
I think Rafa needs to take a long break from tennis. Perhaps a year away from the game would do him immense good. I am just thinking since winning the Olympic gold its been downwards (mostly) for him. He started getting pain and retired from the indoor tournament in Paris in October. He withdrew from year end Masters in China and also the DC final against Argentina. He had two months off came back fresh and was injury free only for another two months January – Feb 2009 (he won the AO, IW and started feeling the pain in Miami). He somehow played through pain on the clay courts but burnt out by the time it was French Open. He took another two months off June-July and returned for the American hardcourt tournaments in August. He played through the end of the season not winning anything but still building his confidence. And now again within 5 months he is injured.
History of past two years says since August 2008 he is having injury issues.
If he took a year off he returns in 2011 he is still only 24 years old. He will be unseeded but he can climb back up into top spot with his determination and talent. Agassi did that in 1997-98. From being 150 he went to number 1. If someone with a questionable commitment as Agassi could do it – I am 100% sure someone with Nadal’s talent and commitment can certainly do it.
A year away from tennis will help him completely recover from his injury woes and also get over all his personal issue with the parents seperation etc. He will be fresh, hungry and ready to go. VAMOS!
It makes a lot of sense JK. VAMOS!!!
I have a feeling that Mirka has pinned the knees of a vodoo doll and kept it in their basement. Since Federer crying at the AO final the tables have turned 360. :)
Then will do the same on Fed…that’s so evil. But if it works, why not? :)
Necitas – there is no point in doing that to Fed… we need to get the vodoo of Rafa :)
Ok JK! Go to Mirka’s basement and get the vodoo doll. :))
JK, I think that is one of the most sensible posts of read on this issue.
As crazy as it may seem to some at first glance, it makes perfect sense. If he decides to do that, I am sure that we will all be behind him 100%.
I can’t see that working at all, IMHO. This isn’t the WTA where players can retire and un-retire at will. The competition is too deep and too strong.
Miri – I think the only way to recover from tendonitis is complete rest for a long period of time. Staying out for two months will not help and is only a short term fix. In the long run this will benefit. I agree the ATP tour is far more competitive than the WTA. But how much can change in 12 months? The major players will remain the same Roger, Del Potro, Djokovic and Murray. A fresh Rafa will 2-3 months back into competition would be able to handle them.
I agree that the only thing that will ever cure tendonitis is rest. But I just don’t see how taking a year off is possible.
Every year, players are hitting harder and faster – you miss out on some of that and you are screwed. Maybe I’m thinking too much of what happened to Wilander when he took some time off, but he said he never felt like he could catch up to the level the players had advanced to while he was out.
Rafa has enough trouble getting his mind and confidence ready for competition after a few months off…I can’t imagine him after a year off.
I agree. Besides he would have to play alot more matches, he could not skip first rounds bye for example. I think the treatment he got during last summer was something different, and it seems it helped his tendonitis. He quitted for two mounths and he is just getting his game back, what would happen if he quitted for one year? And he likes competition, i guess being out for a year would depress him a lot.
I think he should just take care of himself, not let things get worse so that he can shook relatively unimportant injuries in short terms.
Agreed – you never know what the best course of action is in advance. But the two option are
– keep playing and hope that nothing happens (which would not be such a great idea considering what we have seen past couple of years).
- take an extended break and recover fully and come back fresh.
The difference is – right now him not playing for a month or two is forced injury time outs. Taking a year off is a planned event. He will he happy returning with small expectations. No one will be expecting him to win grand slams right off the bat. But within 6 months of competition he will be in the top 10.
I dont know what the best thing for him to do is. This is just my opnion. But I am very upset with whatever has happened to poor Rafa in the past 8-10 months. He was on top of the game the best in the world and then he got struck with injury and parents seperation.
If his injury was tendonitis again, i would also think taking a long break would be better. But this is not tendonitis now, and i’m not sure taking a long break would help these kind of injuries. I’m not an expert either but this is how i feel.
He’d have no rankings points left. That means he’d have to get wild-cards into tournaments, qualify or work on getting ranking points by playing Challenger level events. If he gets into a Masters, he’d have no first round byes. Qualifying and no byes would mean, if he makes it to later rounds, that he’d be playing more tennis during the year than he is now. So, I’m not sure how this is a good thing.
Definately. He would have to play a lot more tennis for nearly one year and this can make him even worse. I’m sure he would get wild-cards for a few tournaments, but i’m not sure if he can perform well right after a really long break, as he is a slow starter as we know. He can’t get a wild-card for every tournament for a year.
He would definitely get wild-cards! Are you kidding! Tournaments would be falling over themselves to give him wild-cards!
A Rafa match would be the rarest of jewels!
For a period like 5-6 months maybe. If he doesn’t perform well till then, i wouldn’t be that sure. There will be young talents coming and countries also prefer their own players when they organize a tournament. They also should be ethical when delivering wild-cards, the only thing they care can not be how many tickets they will sell. They should act responsible both for the sport and their country.
Yes. Agassi did that and so can Nadal. He needs time off in a big way. He is not obsessed with tennis like people think. He will be more than happy spending time away playing golf, fishing, going on vacations, watching Real Madrid play soccer and even the World Cup in South Africa.
Sure he will miss competition in 6 months time which when he slowly starts his training to rebuild strength and come back refreshed in 2011.
These short fixes that he is getting and coming back after small breaks obviously isnt working as we have seen since 2008.
Agassi and Rafa are very different people (thank freaking god for that). Agassi started his career as a brat who now says he was forced to play tennis by his dad. He finally decided he wanted to prove he could play tennis without the dad monkey on his back – thus the comeback. Rafa hasn’t had similar issues. He’s always seemed to play tennis on his own terms – right or wrong as they may seem to us. I just can’t see him giving it up for a year and then, essentially, starting all over again.
I don’t claim to know what makes Nadal happy or what he would do if he didn’t play tennis for a year. I do know that in his interviews he is clear about taking things one tournament, one match, one point at a time. If I did have to speculate, I would speculate that he wouldn’t speculate about what he will be doing in 6 months.
“He is not obsessed with tennis like people think. He will be more than happy spending time away playing golf, fishing, going on vacations, …”
Sure nobody can read Rafa’s mind but it somehow is very hard to imagine for me that an accomplished young man like him at the age of 23 would enjoy golf, fishing, etc more than tennis if he had a choice. Yes he said a million times fishing and tennis were his hobbies but tennis is more than just a hobby, it defines who he is. It is his means to connect to the outside world and let peole in on who he truly is. I don’t imagine he loves anything in the world better than playing tennis if he has a choice.
Shake the injury off which seems to be a short-term one this time as soon as possible Rafa, and come back to do the one thing that you love with your life. I said I can wait before but the truth is that I really, truly can’t wait (Ok you can still skip the US hardcourt season).
“Shake the injury off which seems to be a short-term one this time as soon as possible Rafa,”
I almost burst into tears when I read this. “Shake the injury off?”
Absolutely not! He needs to take his time and heal and recover fully! As much as we’d all love to see him back playing and competing, surely we want what’s best for him and that is to be healthy?
The fact that Uncle Toni had to be the one to tell him to stop (and thankfully he listened to him this time) shows how hard it is for him to make the right decisions sometimes. I feel that he is so die-hard, that he can be such a fanatic, that he really needs looking after.
Didn’t they have to hide his rackets when he took that injury time off last year? I just love the guy to death and at the same time I want to grab him by both shoulders and shake him! He needs to slow. down. Pffft! Of course he doesn’t know the meaning of the words! Heck, we’re talking about a guy who took ONE DAY OFF.
*sigh* I know that what we say doesn’t necessarily count for much when it comes to Rafa’s decisions. But I just feel that it’s important that, as much as Rafa himself will want to be the first to hurry back, WE need to be the ones to say for him to rest and take his time.
We need to be the ones to tell him how to play tennis and when to rest and take his time? We need to? And he should listen to us over himself? I’m trying to think of a way to be polite about this, but…I can’t. I’m gobsmacked.
What makes Rafa interesting to me is his passion and total love of competition. Part of that is an intense stubbornness to do things how he wants. Does it drive me batty? Yes. Would he be the Rafa I love without it? No. I’d rather Rafa retire than start making decisions based on what fans want. As soon as he compromises his vision and his desire, the passion will start to fade and he’ll be just another tennis player.
I think maybe Missy means that Rafa does think about the fans and sometimes puts them above his needs, not wanting to disappoint them (e.g. Rotterdam, Rome). If we released him from feeling that obligation to play for our sakes it might just take one burden of duty from him and help him to do the right thing for himself (which is also the right thing for us – if we can communicate that to him).
Maybe it would be helpful to think about how any one of us would feel if a Spanish tennis player started offering tips on how we should manage our lives and careers. For myself, I’d be pretty amused at the effort and then go on doing what I feel is best for myself.
Sorry that my words made you feel sad, but they were meant to do quite the opposite. By shaking off I do not mean Rafa should take his injury lightly but that I am hopeful from the limited information we gathered for now—this being a tear and not the old tendonitis problem–that a speedy recovery is likely to be expected, though we cannot know for sure until he gets fully tested.
And sorry I do not share your sentiment that Rafa is a child that needs protection from us fans. He is an experienced athlete who knows exactly what he is doing. When it comes to deciding what’s the best step to take next, I would not presume that I as a fan, have better judgement than him and his team. I trust that he will make the right decision with all the lessons he learned from the past. And I will certainly never stop cheering him on.
Are you kidding, kefuoe? My life is run by a Spanish tennis player!
Seriously, if I understand her right I think Missy makes a fair point: she’s not saying we should tell Rafa how to run his life, but that we need to let him know that we don’t expect him to wreck his own body for our entertainment. In the past he has played when he shouldn’t have, because he didn’t want to disappoint the fans. It might therefore be helpful to tell him that we’d like to see him take a break and not play when he shouldn’t, even if we miss him. It’s only a small piece of the jigsaw but it is relevant.
Frankly, he does sometimes need to be told to slow down (Uncle Toni). He won’t listen to strangers, of course, but the fact he needs outside influence is a valid point too. (I agree, miri, that his mulishness about the injury is just the flip side of the Rafa-competitor we adore. I still hope that a combination of Uncle Toni et al and Rafa’s own propensity for learning will help him find a way through this.).
Am I the only one who do not believe for a second that Rafa made the decisions in the past the he should play on when he probably shouldn’t, for the reason of not letting the FANS down? Am I the only one who thinks instead that he was not able to let HIMSELF down, simply refusing to accept the fact that his body would betray him while his mind was still burning to conquer? I am not saying that he does not care about his fans, but to think he would be influenced at the level of his career by fans is just wishful thinking.
No, sunset, you are not the only one.
Sure, mostly about himself :) But he has also cited the fans in his decisions at Rotterdam 09, Rome 08, Madrid 09 (and maybe 10), to name a few off the top of my head. As you say, mostly his own motivation, and yes, he doesn’t always tell us the entire contents of his soul, and yes people sometimes think they’re acting for others when they’re really acting for themselves. On the other hand, Rafa does show real consideration for his fans and also has a real sense of duty in a lot of quarters, so it’s not unreasonable or delusional to say that he may sometimes consider the fans. We scarcely touch his life, I agree. But we do touch it a bit, and he deserves immense credit for the generosity he shows to people who are often a burden to him. What can we give him back, but our support and self-effacement? That’s the point.
No, sunset, you’re not the only one. This kind of thinking strikes me as fanatical, quite literally.
OK, I’m asking this in curiosity not aggression so please could responses be in a similar spirit?
What I’m saying is that Rafa does sometimes consider his fans. I say it on the evidence that he spends hours doing photos and autographs, and from what he’s said about playing at specific tournaments (although I accept that he did not play entirely or even mostly for his fans). On what grounds do you disagree? Even if you think he is not telling the truth, why is it fanatical to think he may be, partly? I think he tells the truth because of the way he treats fans the rest of the time, and the way he fulfils other duties. It is not because I think he deeply cares for us, any more than he does about anyone else in the world (though he may feel a sort of mild loyalty).
I happen to feel rather sorry for him in regard to his fans – they must be a complete nuisance a lot of the time and I’m sure he’d be much happier as a private individual. I think he is polite to us because that is the right thing to do, and it is part of his job as he sees it. I got the impression – maybe wrongly – after his break last year that in a small way he appreciated them for the first time, because for the first time he might have been vulnerable enough for the support of strangers to be helpful (actually the kindness of strangers is one of the most wonderful things in the world, and I suspect he appreciates it even when he may not wish for it and/or it may be misplaced). I think he treats fans with more-than-average decency because he is a more-than-averagely decent man, with a sense of duty that is sometimes too great.
And I do agree with that. He is very nice to fans when they ask for autographs, etc. What I personally have a problem with is the leap from that to the idea that our feelings have an impact on his scheduling choices. He’s a professional and there are so many factors that go into his scheduling and they are all far more important than us.
Agree about the scheduling (except perhaps in Spain). I suspect it becomes a factor (one of many) when he should be withdrawing rather than playing on.
He got off the court fallowing Toni Nadal’s orders when he was injured, that shows how much he likes competing. He is not someone like Agassi for sure.
It also bears keeping in mind how completely blown away the entire tennis world was that Agassi was able to do that. It’s not normal. And tennis is a very different game now from even the late 90s. It’d be a lot harder to catch up now. Rafa would have to play twice as hard as he does now to even try, not to mention more matches, and where would that get him?
It seems a bit premature for Marca to report all this – esp. considering Rafa just arrived in Barcelona to place himself in the hands of Dr. Cotorro (btw, is it sad that I know the name of a tennis doctor in another country? Oh fandom. Oh Rafaknees). Whatever they write – I dunno, it may be accurate – it’s probably based on speculation prior to all the intensive testing has been done.
The issue of stretching is interesting, though, and I tend to want to see Rafa doing more yoga/pilates (if he doesn’t already). Rafa’s movement has always been of an explosive, kinetic sort. On the other hand, he shows amazing flexibility when sliding on clay, on both sides of the body, which surely couldn’t be achieved without a good stretching routine. Either way, he’s not what I’d call particularly bendy, but that may be as much genes as training.
Hasn’t Rafa’s fitness regimen, as much as I can piece together, been based a lot more on isometric exercises (like on those vibration machines)? I’m not sure what the effect of those are, or what their intended effects are. Anyone in the know who can fill us in?
If Rafa needs to take a year off, he can take a year off. I don’t give a fly Frisbee about anything else other than his health and well-being. He is so talented, that I believe he can recover his ranking. Even with the other players improving. He’s so talented, so committed, so strong both mentally, spiritually, and in his heart, that he can overcome that.
He’s been number one and number two for over five years now. Ranking is not his top priority. At 23, he has the “luxury” of what most players don’t, and if they do, they are usually in their late 20s, and that is the luxury of not having to worry about legacy because he is already a legend, not worry about ranking because he’s “been there done that”. Rafa has the “luxury” of being able to focus on GS and filling the (REMARKABLY SMALL!) holes in his resume.
It cannot be stressed enough how amazing he is, how jaw-dropping his accomplishments are….I feel that he doesn’t get enough credit. Plus, the potential he still has! What he is still capable of! But he MUST be healthy. He must take care of himself. Health is wealth. The hell with he rankings and it’s cruelty.
Our prayers and well-wishes are with you Rafa. Take all the time you need in the world to get better. Because when you come back, we will all be here waiting for you.
Here’s a fun fan video I wanted to share with you guys, I watched it just now and it made me smile. Rafa is a Gem. <3 Vamos sweet heart!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIginGMsLew&feature=related
LOL thanks, did put a smile on my face this video. Particularly laughed when Rafa waved both middle fingers (combined with that killer smile) at the camera in an interview! When and where the heck was that I wonder.
Sigh, the topic of this post is way too depressing for me to comment on. So I’ll just hang on to the lovely smiles and moments for now.
You’re on fire tonight, Missy :) Thanks for all.
Thanks Missy for sharing that fan vid showing all the gorgeous aspects of Rafa we love.
Dont have all the technical knowledge some here have so dont know whether a short or long time out is what’s needed. Suppose it’s too early to say until Dr. Angel Ruiz Cotorro gives his prognosis (ya Tiemyshoe it’s sad but also funny we’re all on 1st name terms with a Spanist Doc!) – I hope his christian name isn’t a misnomer & he can magically make angelic Rafa better!
No problemo guys, we can all use as much khappiness and positivity that we can get.
The middle finger incident is from a presser back in 2005. Here’s another vid that shows a bit of it. It also has some other fun stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-vqlNhr2SM&feature=related
Ok, Missy, quiz: 1) in the first vid you posted, what was the context of Rafa’s bite thing at the IW presser (around 0.23)? 2) Did they really have to hide Rafa’s racquets last summer? Where did you read that? Bless. Poor poppet.
I don’t care what he does to get better and prolong his career, just so long as it does the job and makes him happy. That said, if he took a year out I might go into a terminal decline.
That first video made me really happy for the first time all week. Thanks :)
-1) in the first vid you posted, what was the context of Rafa’s bite thing at the IW presser (around 0.23)?
If I’m remembering correctly, I think one of the interviewers told Rafa that he didn’t bite the trophy (LOL! The interviewer actually sounded disappointed that he didn’t! XD)
So Rafa doesn’t the “bite thing” and nods to him saying “yeah, I did”. So of course they break out into giggles and the interviewer is like “okay, cool, I must have missed it then!” <3
-Did they really have to hide Rafa’s racquets last summer? Where did you read that?
When Rafa was taking that injury time out last year, naturally, I went mad. So I scoured the net reading everything (and anything) I could find about him. In this one particular article, I recall reading the Uncle Toni hid Rafa's rackets and told him that there will be no tennis playing. So Rafa was relegated to completing his aqua-therapy, stretches, etc. They even mentioned how much it killed him to have to sit on a couch. So much so, that he took the opportunity to take all of his buddies on a vacation to (Monte Carlo?). I have so many things bookmarked, so if I come across the article I'll post a link.
- You're welcome. :)) Juliette2007 (the fan who made the vid) has many other fun Rafa vids as well that you can check out. Just click the "More From: Juliette2007" to the right of the YouTube page. How cute is he when he's jumping around because he's winning at PlayStation? Such the competitor! What a force of nature. <3
OK, serious respect! Wow. Er, what year? What round? See if you’ve got a photographic memory – or do you not remember anything beyond Rafa? If so, I want into your brain. Would love to see that article if you can find it some time.
Mm, I think i’ve seen some of Juliette2007′s stuff – it’s good.
Topic, please.
Just filling in the month :)
If we are going this far afield just a few days after non-Rafa-tennis days, I’m going to have to lock comment threads to keep my sanity.
Why? What’s wrong? Conversations can be organic can’t they?
We start at one point, then sometimes it take us to another. But it’s all Rafa-related, isn’t it?
It must be because I’m new here, but I don’t understand what’s wrong.
They can until they go so far afield as to have no resemblance to the topic at all. This post is about an article that states Rafa might be out of tennis for a month. Comments should be related to said article.
Where could we continue this conversation? My idea of innovative technology is the invention of concrete; I haven’t posted before coming here, so I don’t know all the rules very well.
Try vamosbrigade.com.
LOL! A+ miri. And to think I turned to nadalnews because it was much more chilled out, with less scary fans. Guess that’s shot to hell.
Yeah, I came here because it was friendly and respectful, there wasn’t the sniping you get at other tennis sites.
“I think maybe Missy means that Rafa does think about the fans and sometimes puts them above his needs, not wanting to disappoint them (e.g. Rotterdam, Rome). If we released him from feeling that obligation to play for our sakes it might just take one burden of duty from him and help him to do the right thing for himself (which is also the right thing for us – if we can communicate that to him).”
That’s exactly what I meant. Thanks for that.
As fans, if we support him having to take time off (when the rest of the world – sponsors, obligations and all the other commitments that he’ll feel pressured to honor that we don’t know about- coupled with the immense pressure he puts on HIMSELF….if he just knows how much his fans love him and don’t want him to rush things and hurry back, maybe, just maybe, it’ll help ease some of the pressure on his shoulders.
You’re right :) We can only do what it’s within our power to do. That’s virtually nothing, but every little helps…
“We need to be the ones to tell him how to play tennis and when to rest and take his time?”
I didn’t say that we have to tell him how to play tennis and when to rest and take his time. I just think that since time off and rest seem to be the remedy for his proper recuperation, then we should support him and let him know that if time off is what he needs, then time off is what we support him to take.