[sexybeast]

Lets say Nadal comes back to the tour in time to play at the start of next year, what would you like to see from his schedule?

I would really appreciate something radical, Nadal simply ignoring some really big tournaments and have some great rest the whole time between Usopen and Australian Open every year from now on. Also play alot of atp500s on clay, something like this:

AO
Buenos Aires
Acapulco
(no IW or Miami)
Monte Carlo
Barcelona
(No Madrid)
Rome
RG
(no pre Wimbledon tournament)
Wimbledon
Hamburg 500
Toronto/Montreal
(No Cincinati)
Usopen

Then alot of rest to next year. If WTF still is a dream, he might play some small less contested tournament like Valencia to warm up and still get some good rest in between. Also no Davis Cup unless it is a final.

I think he can prolong his career some years with this schedule and some luck, ofcourse he cant hope to end nr1 again. Maybe he can still win a double in RG/Wimbledon. He should win all 3 added clay tournaments with closed eyes, so there is 1250 points which is basically almost what he most often gets from IW/Miami/Cincy/Shanghai/Paris

[sexybeast]

Sorry Rafa fans, I didnt mean to post here. Mods moved it here because they get irritated when you want to start discussions about the top 4, oh well. You might have discussed it already.

[Xristos]

Doha
Australian Open
Acapulco
Monte Carlo
Rome
French Open
Halle
Wimbledon
Canada 1000
US Open
Valencia
Paris
WTF

[born_on_clay]

Australian Open
Acapulco
Miami
Monte Carlo
Barcelona
Rome
French Open
Halle
Wimbledon
Hamburg
Canada
Us Open
Paris
WTF

OUT: exhos, doubles, Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid, Cinci, no trip to Asia in fall (no fu@#$@@# Shanghai, Beijing , Tokyo or Bangkok - sorry Asian fans )

IN: Acapulco, Hamburg

Vamos

[Rafa is the GOAT]

Doha
AO
IW
Miami
MC
Barcelona
rome
RG
Halle
Wimbledon
Hamburg
Toronto or Canada
US Open
Shamghai or Paris
WTF
Maybe DC

[Ash86]

Doha
Australian Open
IW
Miami
Monte Carlo
Barcelona
Rome
RG
Halle (Queens would be better but oh well)
Wimbledon
Cincinnati
US Open
Shanghai
WTF

Skip: Madrid, Rogers Cup, Tokyo, Paris.

I don't actually think drastic changes are needed. He loves IW and Miami and gets good results in that part of the year - that matters. Playing Acapulco on clay and then a few weeks later quickly adapting to hard in Miami wouldn't be that easy especially when R1 in Masters can be tough (could be Nalbandian for example!). Only playing 1 of those masters means an early loss = huge hit in points. He hates Madrid so I'd skip it. Only needs 1 HC masters to prepare US Open (uses just Doha for Aus Open after all) and never does that well in them anyway so it's not a huge part of his point haul.

Post US-Open I think skipping Asia totally is not wise. It's not like the travel is what hurts his knees. Shanghai is actually a good court for him and he can only miss 2 Masters in a year without getting penalties anyway - not sure how many he can make excuses for. Missing 3 out of 9 seems sufficient. Miss indoor season in Europe as usual and play WTF.

Don't think he needs to play more on clay - 4 tournaments with the aim to win them all (MC, Barcelona, Rome, RG = 4500 points) should be the crux of his season as usual. Just needs to cut down a bit of the hard. That schedule = 14 tournaments, 2 of which are meaningless warmups (Doha, Halle). Think it could work.

[RafaelNadalisGod]

Doha (QF or SF tank)
Aussie Open
Acapulco
Miami
Monte Carlo
Rome
Roland Garros
Queens (No further than QF, like every year)
Wimbledon
Hamburg
Toronto
Us Open
Stockholm or Basel (SF tank just for indoor practice)
World Tour Finals