[Litotes]

Originally Posted by Punky

Agreed but when he will play the slams? He needs to play in other courts to get used to it and if he will play only clay it will hurt him in my eyes so all clay = little chance for other slams

The idea was that he wouldn't play the other slams. Except perhaps Wimbledon. Nobody has more than one warmup there anyway, and Borg did without even that.

[Mountaindewslave]

Originally Posted by Punky

Agreed but when he will play the slams? He needs to play in other courts to get used to it and if he will play only clay it will hurt him in my eyes so all clay = little chance for other slams

that schedules not going to happen the ATP and other players would freak out and there would be outcry if Nadal tried to entirely avoid the regulation of the ATP for top ranked players to play the masters events. he might try to do a schedule like that but also play some hard court events and deliberately bow out early possibly

honestly I do expect him to resume a relatively normal schedule with slightly more clay court tournaments. we don't know for certain how concerned they are about the knee permanently or if they're just being really cautious right now and/or just want Rafa to return to tour on good terms and a surface and environment which he feels most comfortable

[Kat_YYZ]

Originally Posted by Litotes

The idea was that he wouldn't play the other slams. Except perhaps Wimbledon. Nobody has more than one warmup there anyway, and Borg did without even that.

Really? I never got that idea. Many months ago, the quote from his camp was that he would play fewer hard court events: fewer... not NONE. The point would be to save himself for the big stuff on HC like AO, USO and WTF.

I assumed he would skip one of IW/Miami (keeping one mostly due to points & ranking -- they aren't actually warmups for anything as they immediately precede the clay season). Then he would only play only one of Canada/Cincinnati (as warmup for USO) and then he would skip at least one of Shanghai/Paris and play WTF. So if we say: AO, Miami, Toronto, USO, Shanghai, WTF... that's only 6 hard court events per year.

Hard court tennis is a bit harder on your body than clay, but it's not a whole other sport. Tennis is still tennis, running is running, 4 hours of running back & forth, back & forth, is still tough, on any surface. The surface difference makes it maybe 20% easier at most. Either you can do it or you can't.

[Maccie]

Hard court tennis is a bit harder on your body than clay, but it's not a whole other sport. Tennis is still tennis, running is running, 4 hours of running back & forth, back & forth, is still tough, on any surface. The surface difference makes it maybe 20% easier at most. Either you can do it or you can't.

For someone with a bad knee I think hardcourt tennis is a huge difference. Hardcourt is really tough on your knees and ankles, especially the way these guys run and slide on it nowadays. I could understand it if Nadal decides to play fewer hc tournaments. Would probably be one of his best decisions in his career.

[Litotes]

Originally Posted by Kat_YYZ

Really? I never got that idea. Many months ago, the quote from his camp was that he would play fewer hard court events: fewer... not NONE. The point would be to save himself for the big stuff on HC like AO, USO and WTF.

I assumed he would skip one of IW/Miami (keeping one mostly due to points & ranking -- they aren't actually warmups for anything as they immediately precede the clay season). Then he would only play only one of Canada/Cincinnati (as warmup for USO) and then he would skip at least one of Shanghai/Paris and play WTF. So if we say: AO, Miami, Toronto, USO, Shanghai, WTF... that's only 6 hard court events per year.

Hard court tennis is a bit harder on your body than clay, but it's not a whole other sport. Tennis is still tennis, running is running, 4 hours of running back & forth, back & forth, is still tough, on any surface. The surface difference makes it maybe 20% easier at most. Either you can do it or you can't.

Not Nadal's own idea, the one just launched in this thread. I am not expecting this myself. To be honest, at the moment I'm not expecting anything, will just wait and see what happens.

[Corey Feldman]

Originally Posted by Slice Winner

He cut his hair?

yah, lets say he "cut" his hair

[Sri]

Originally Posted by Maccie

For someone with a bad knee I think hardcourt tennis is a huge difference. Hardcourt is really tough on your knees and ankles, especially the way these guys run and slide on it nowadays. I could understand it if Nadal decides to play fewer hc tournaments. Would probably be one of his best decisions in his career.

Yes and no.

The courts are tough if you are a grinder.

[cveks]

Any news on Nadal condition?

[VamosRafaNadal]

Originally Posted by cveks

Any news on Nadal condition?

Not a lot. All I know is that Nadal was training at 70% of his physical level before 20 of December, when an stomach virus put him off the courts for 10 days. In this 10 days they decided not to go to the Australian Open (in fact, an english journalist said that he was in Manacor in the first half of December and Nadal said to him that depending of his feelings in Abu Dhabi he would decide to go or not to go to Doha and the Australian Open... but they had the tickets to fly to Australia).

After the stomach virus dissapeared, he restarted practicing on Monday, 31 of December, but not on the hard court of "Centro de Tecnificación de tenis de Manacor". From now he is on the clay of the Tennis Club of Manacor. There are no news of his physical form since he started training on the Tennis Club of Manacor (he posted a lot of Facebook pics while he was training on hard courts, but I think that he is being now more conservative because of the expectation he created about his participation in the Australian Open, something that finally didn't happen), but I think that it is fine. Toni Nadal said on a radio programme that he thinks that Nadal will reach his best physical level this year.

Probably Nadal will be back on court before Acapulco. All the rumours were about a return on Sao Paolo, but some days ago Carlos Costa, the manager of Nadal, said that they were talking with the Viña del Mar tournament owners.

[VamosRafaNadal]

I think that people had dramatised a lot about Nadal's physical condition. Nadal trained on August (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=2Mc1uZAzS3U), trying to go to the US OPEN. His knee has been a problem always. He decided not to go to the US OPEN, and after that he stopped training. He knows the feeling of playing and practising with pain on his body. He has done it before. But now this injury was a little bit different and more important, but he always know that was only a matter of time (he had some years ago a more important problem with one foot that put on risk his career).

In fact, I think that he was able to play on Abu Dhabi and Doha. And when I say that he was able, I say that you put Nadal in a court and he plays an acceptable first match. But Nadal wants more than play one acceptable match (and maybe win) if he knows that he can't reach, for example, the quarterfinals. But the problem with Nadal's condition is about Nadal's mental condition. He hasn't played in a long time, and he is a player that depends a lot of being fit to play a high level tennis. He has to gain confidence and recover all the feelings on court. He is not coming back to make Australian Open R16, for example. He is coming back to be 'competitive'. Nadal says lots of times the word 'competitive'. He means that being 'competitive' is being able to play his best tennis in order to have possibilities to win matches. To do all he can do in order to win, and then if he loses is because the other player played better and not more, not because he wasn't fine. For example, after Australian Open 2012 final he said that he was happy because he felt that he was competitive against Djokovic (after a 2011 with lot of loses, where he only felt competitive on the 3rd set of the US OPEN 2011 final).

If we think about Nadal's return with lot of care, it is not a good decision to come back in the Australian Open. Hot temperatures (reaching 40 degrees) and long matches played on five sets. He can return on Acapulco or before (on a South American clay tournament) and he can have his first feelings on court on his best surface and against players that are not a serious problem for him. Another question was: if I come back on Doha / Australian Open, what would happen if the knee is another time a problem? Starting to play on clay is better for him to defeat his fears.

I've not doubt that he'll play most of the tournaments that he played before. Cotorro, his doctor, said on an interview that this type of knee injury doesn't have to come back. Nadal always will have problems with his knees, but maybe problems less serious, like injuries that he had before. Nadal environment said on July/August that they will try to play more on clay and less on hard, but Toni Nadal said more than one time on radio interviews that with this ATP calendar they don't have lot of chances to make their own calendar, so Nadal will play almost the same tournaments that he has played before. If he is going to be as competitive as last years on other courts than clay (and grass too) is the real unknown thing.

[Ash86]

Agree with your assessment VamosRafaNadal. I think if push came to shove he could have played and maybe won a match or two in Australia -- after all he was practicing with Moya who said that he was playing well; Toni said his level was good etc.; and Nadal said that though his knee was still a bit of a problem, it was a lot better than before. However ultimately as he could not have the "test" he wanted in Abu Dhabi and Doha they decided to be more conservative - why risk 5 set matches on hard court in 30C heat to get to the 4th round or QF? What is that worth to Nadal? Not much. He wants to either be able to fight for the big titles or not be on court at this stage in his career I think.

So I think the plan to return on the South American clay and get enough matches and rhythm in the run up to Monte Carlo makes sense. His PR manager Benito tweeted to a fan that Nadal was practicing on clay; Moya again gave an interview saying he thinks Nadal will be back at his usual/normal level this year; Toni has said the same -- said he doesn't know when he'll get there but that Nadal's time on court has been good. And finally his agent Carlos Costa was reported to be in discussions with Vina del Mar this week. There have been reports from Argentina and Brazil too about him playing. Obviously he won't play all 4 tournaments in the Golden Swing, but think they're sounding out who offers the best package/appearance fees and also keeping doors open in case he crashes out early for example and wants some matches in another tournament unexpectedly.

If we don't see him in February, then there will be deeper questions I think. But for now I think in a month or so we should have some idea of how he is and how he's playing.

[JediFed]

Depending on Berdych or Del Potro - Nadal could fall out of the top 5. That's what a QF at Australia was worth. It's a harder road for him back up if he falls out of the top 4, since he could play Djoko in the QFs.

[Ash86]

Originally Posted by JediFed

Depending on Berdych or Del Potro - Nadal could fall out of the top 5. That's what a QF at Australia was worth. It's a harder road for him back up if he falls out of the top 4, since he could play Djoko in the QFs.

He was going to fall out of the top 4 regardless really. Ferrer was very close -- getting to the Final again and defending the points in his first tournament back was a long shot really. Whether he lost no.4 at the AO or at IW or Miami etc. the likelihood of him being able to avoid it was low. As for avoiding Djoko in the QFs - he'll play 1 or 2 HC tournaments (IW and/or Miami) and after that it'll all be clay. Think Novak might not be as happy to see him as a QF opponent either. Fact is on clay not being top 4 is the not the biggest thing for him.

Ranking alone is not a good enough reason to risk his body in the heat on those hard courts over 5 sets. He has nothing to defend after RG practically so makes more sense to focus on clay so he can defend a lot of those points (and win more in South America) and then gain points for rest of year after RG.

[bounccer]

Nadal gave me a bunch of nightmares, but c'mon, i hope he will be back soon.

Djokovic - Murray matchup is sooooooooooooo boredom

[JurajCrane]

What a level-headed poster this "VamosRafaNadal" is.