IW & Miami: Rumors abound
Photo by Jorge Reyes
Just before I went to bed last night, @Rafael_Plaza tweeted that a story was to come out in Marca today claiming Rafa had decided to pull out from Indian Wells and Miami. While @Rafael_Plaza has proven to be a good source, Marca’s been more up and down with their statements on Rafa’s schedule. Sure enough, the article was posted today (mangle). Shortly afterwards, however, reports came via @tomeuterrasa and @PauFerragut that Toni had denied this on Spanish radio.
Where does this leave us? Exactly where we were before the article from Marca: we don’t know. Previously, Rafa’s stated that playing IW and/or Miami will depend on how he feels in Acapulco. Unless things have taken a turn for the worse, I see no reason to think the plan has changed: play in Acapulco and then evaluate what to play next based on how the knee is feeling and responding. I can also imagine that the state of the knee after the exhibition in NYC could affect his feelings on playing the hard court tournaments. Yes, he won’t be playing that all out, but it will be on a hard court. If the pain escalates during/after one hard court match, I could definitely see him pulling the plug on IW and Miami.
Due to his participation in the South American clay court swing, playing the US hard court season makes less sense for Rafa than ever this year – surface changes are hard on the body and can often cause injury or pain. I wouldn’t be surprised if he skips them. I’ll be sad since I’ll be in IW and was looking forward to see him play, but not surprised. I do think, however, we should all wait until we hear from Team Nadal themselves. So far, all we have is a tweet from Benito:
Las especulaciones de Marca son solo eso. Ojalá este equivocado.
— B1PR (@b1pr) February 26, 2013
Which mangles to: Marca speculation are just that. Hopefully this wrong.
The “hopefully” seems to indicate it’s still a possibility, but as they had previously stated, the decision will not be made until play in Acapulco.
Related tweets:
Marca says Nadal is out of Indian Wells and Miami. No quotes from Nadal yet.marca.com/2013/02/26/ten…
— Carole Bouchard (@carole_bouchard) February 26, 2013
Información de MARCA: Rafael Nadal no disputará los Masters 1000 de Indian Wells y Miami para preservar la rodilla.
— Rafael Plaza (@Rafael_Plaza) February 26, 2013
Nadal volverá a competir en el Masters 1000 de Monte Carlo tras disputar el torneo de Acapulco.
— Rafael Plaza (@Rafael_Plaza) February 26, 2013
Nadal viajará a Nueva York tras Acapulco para disputar el lunes la exhibición prevista en el Madison con Del Potro, Serena y Azarenka.
— Rafael Plaza (@Rafael_Plaza) February 26, 2013
Mangle:
Information from MARCA: Rafael Nadal will play the Masters 1000 Indian Wells and Miami to preserve the knee.
Nadal will compete in the 1000 Monte Carlo Masters after playing the tournament in Acapulco.
Nadal will travel to New York to compete in Acapulco after the show scheduled on Monday at Madison with Del Potro, Serena and Azarenka.
Toni Nadal en @uhradiodeportes: “La información no es correcta. Rafa aún no ha tomado la decisión de ir o no a Indian Wells y Miami”.
— Tomeu Terrasa (@tomeuterrasa) February 26, 2013
Toni Nadal en @uhradiodeportes: “Es cierto que puede ser arriesgado ir a Indian Wells si la rodilla no está al 100% de la rodilla. Veremos”.
— Tomeu Terrasa (@tomeuterrasa) February 26, 2013
Toni Nadal en @uhradiodeportes: “Es cierto que esperábamos que la rodilla estuviera algo mejor. Pero el tendón necesita volver a rodarse”.
— Tomeu Terrasa (@tomeuterrasa) February 26, 2013
Toni Nadal en @uhradiodeportes: “Me sorprendió el regreso de Manzano al Mallorca. La vida da muchas vueltas pero sus motivos tendrán”.
— Tomeu Terrasa (@tomeuterrasa) February 26, 2013
Toni Nadal by @uhradiodeportes: “News about withdraw aren’t true. Rafa hasn’t decided yet nothing about Indian Wells and Miami”.
— Pau Ferragut (@PauFerragut) February 26, 2013
Toni Nadal by @uhradiodeportes: “We know that’s risked to play Indian Wells if knee isn’t at 100%. We’ll see this week in Acapulco”
— Pau Ferragut (@PauFerragut) February 26, 2013
Toni Nadal by @uhradiodeportes: “We expected that knee was in better conditions. But tendom needs more rythm on court”.
— Pau Ferragut (@PauFerragut) February 26, 2013
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The rumour mill hard at work again, I see! I agree that not playing IW and Miami would be a wise (if fan-disappointing) decision given that Rafa is still experiencing knee pain.
on facebook Babolat asked this week if fans were looking forward to seeing Rafa at Indian Wells.
Probably because at the moment he is still scheduled to play.
If the knee is still bothering him I’ll be glad if he pulls out of IW and Miami. Better that than damaging the knee again. Would be a disappointment for the fans attending though. Guess we’ll find out when we need to know!
Agreed. Many fans will be sad, but I think we’ll all be sadder if he doesn’t listen to his body and give himself the best chance possible of having a longer career.
I think that we will have to wait until the end of Acapulco to find out what Rafa will do. If he does pull out of IW and Miami I feel sorry for the fans who have bought tickets especially to see Rafa there. Miri, let’s hope that Rafa makes it to IW for you! :)
It would be lovely for Rafa to play at IW and Miami but he will decide how the knees are.
But if Benito says “hopefully”, this means that he wants to go there ! right ?
Media jumping the gun as usual. I don’t think Rafa will take any risks with the knee especially before the European Clay season as this is an important part of the year for him so on this occasion to miss IW and Miami would be a wise decision IMO. However I know how disappointing it will be for the people who have tickets for these events if Rafa decides to not play.
Is this official news or what??? Did rafa say it himself?? so confused;
This will be devastating to me and my friend, (both older retired women on fixed incomes,) who saved up our money to go to the only tennis tournament we could afford, due to its proximity to where we live, ticket prices, etc. This would probably be our only chance to watch our hero in person, and neither one of us could care less about anyone else in the tournament. This would be heart-breaking.