[niff]

What a shame

[Whiznot]

Poor Rafa--What can the guy do? He wants desperately to get back on court but the doctor forbids it. The doctor carries a whip, chains, a couple of knives and a sawed-off shotgun. Must obey!

[Say Hey Kid]

Quote from Nadal.

"My rehab has gone well, my knee feels good and I was looking forward to competing. Unfortunately doctors have informed me that my body needs to rest in order to fight this stomach virus. I would like to say sorry to all my fans in the United Arab Emirates and around the world, but I hope to play and win in Abu Dhabi again next year."

This withdrawl, according to Nadal is unrelated to the knee. If so, you'd assume he will be healthy intime to compete in Doha, as usually stomach bugs only last 3-4 days. That is if he's being honest..

[hadouken!]

Awful!!! Come Back Sooon!!!

[Han Solo]

Originally Posted by ProdigyEng

Acts like the Knee is fully recovered and covers it up with something else just so people stop the retirement talk

...It's just I find it hard to believe that if his knee was still causing problems it would be the press/his fans and their "retirement talk" that would be his major concern. I just don't see any benefit in covering up his injury at this stage.

[Han Solo]

Originally Posted by Litotes

I agree it makes little sense. I assume he really has a stomach virus. Hopefully this will heal quickly.

This cancellation means he will go more than six months without a match. Last one was June 29th. Next will be December 31th at the earliest. That's a long gap. He really needs Doha if he wants to be prepared for AO.

Agreed.

I think whatever happens come 31st December, it would be wise for Nadal fans to lower their expectations significantly for the Australian Open. It would be close to a miracle for him to win it with so little match-time beforehand.

[Lestat]

expected, his career is over and he is not coming back. Lets wait for a new RG RG champ

[timafi]

yeah right Rafa

[MTwEeZi]

Time to drag out the backup guy. Muger!

[Kat_YYZ]

Originally Posted by MTwEeZi

Time to drag out the backup guy. Muger!

Rafa withdrew as a favour to his friend, Roger, who was so rudely snubbed. Those ignorant organizers needed to be put in their place, now their tournament is ruined. Thanks, Rafa hope your tummy is better soon.

[Alex999]

don't know any more. it's getting more and more bizarre with Nadal lately. Abu Dhabi is completely irrelevant, but not sure why Rafa even committed to play there ... feel bad for organizers.

[Mountaindewslave]

Originally Posted by Xristos

My thoughts were Rafa would get a few matches under his belt before he arrives in Melbourne. This clearly won't happen.

I have grave fears that Rafa will indeed pull out of the Australian Open.

doubtful. any team would be extremely cautious about the manner in which a player like Nadal comes back to tour. half the battle is physically feeling well and playing well, but as strange as it is, often the other half is how you are perceived. seems strange to come back first event as an exho, I am sure they just want maximum time for him to find his groove before first tournament. I'm pretty confident he'll be back in Doha, there's no logical reason that Nadal would bullshit for more than a month saying he's practically recovered

I doubted he would partake in Abu Dhabi before this anyway, just doesn't make any sense to bother with an exho when you're coming back from absence... his opponents wouldn't be taking it seriously and it wouldn't help him gauge where he needs to be

pretty confident he'll be in Doha but of course who knows. if it truly was something potentially still wrong with the knee, he would not likely have mentioned a 'stomach virus'. he would have been vague about it

[Mountaindewslave]

Originally Posted by Han Solo

...It's just I find it hard to believe that if his knee was still causing problems it would be the press/his fans and their "retirement talk" that would be his major concern. I just don't see any benefit in covering up his injury at this stage.

haha its unrealistic and silly to claim he's 'covering' anything up. he's not a fool. he wouldn't make things up for a month for no reason. he's been video taped practicing very seriously and over and over said his knee is healed. people here get so excited with the prospect of Nadal being gone It's an exho after all, if there's even a tiny thing wrong with him, why would he bother. worst thing you can do is force a return and start the season with a bad mojo

[Keech]

Rafa ..ok, I will have to wait a bit longer ..meh

[Pirata.]

Geez, this guy can't catch a break.