Poor Rafa.. get well fast, Rafa. We missed you already and tennis is not the same without you.

Poor kid, I can't help but think its a good thing he got to #1 before this stuff started happening...

Stu, I agree with you. At least he's made No1.



Get Well Soon Rafa - tennis needs you badly!
Vamos

Rafa is a fighter. He will beat this injury and return to competitive levels again. Vamos Rafa!! We cant wait to see you back.

two good things: he's not making the injury worse by playing rotterdam (finally be sensible :P) and it's not tendinitis. plus he's clearly feeling very positive about things, which is also good

Good news for rafa! and his fans:)..so really, he'll just recover for 2 weeks and the other 2 weeks ease his way back into practice.
In-a-way,he's still on schedule.The only thing is,he'll miss rotterdam but he was going to take 3 weeks off after that anyway.
And i'm glad that it this injury had nothing to do with the one he had last year.

"Poor kid, I can't help but think its a good thing he got to #1 before this stuff started happening..."

Stu, one might argue that getting to No. 1 -- pushing himself that hard for that long to get there -- was the thing that STARTED "this stuff."

"Stu, one might argue that getting to No. 1 -- pushing himself that hard for that long to get there -- was the thing that STARTED "this stuff."

well, at least he can say "I was the world #1". and you can say "I'm the proud owner of fake mensa membership card I like to brag about".

genius move

Barcelona and Madrid should be next up on Nadal's "axe" list

i'm inclined to agree with you there, ricky. but you know he'll play one or both of them. barca coz he's won it 5 times and madrid because, well... it's madrid

i promise you right now he will not play Madrid

he WILL play Barcelona, unfortunately, but he will come to his senses and tell Tiriac to shove it.

surely it makes more sense to skip barca than madrid? playing barca will mean playing 3 straight weeks of tennis, assuming he goes deep into the tourney. but then again, madrid has altitude and is closer to rg, which he won't want to lose again. so yeah, he should skip both

he wont skip Barca just cause it's Barca (plus he probably thinks he can win it without much trouble)

yes, Madrid is far too much trouble and far too close to RG. Thats the key.

Ah, SenorP, there's the rub! It all comes down to his attritional style, eh? But then Rafa is Rafa and I do not ask him to be anybody else. [I know his Hot New Darling atr tries, tries, tries to change him - but not me.] The counter-argument is that, if he had mapped out his career with an eye on longevity, he might never have won a slam let alone topped the rankings at any point: a sort of Faustian pact, if you will.

There's no knowing how much longer we'll have a competitive Rafa. I knew this when I started following him - but, exactly like My Guy, I couldn't help myself! Rafans, at least, will understand that.

I am pleased that, as a few of us have predicted, Rafa is skipping Rotterdam. It will be interesting to see what - if anything - he decides to miss during the European clay-court season.

While I am also pleased that this latest injury setback appears to be unrelated to previous knee issues, I am concerned at the same time it is another 'new' niggle, to add to the ab strain that he suffered following his return last summer.

This sort of thing can only lead to a build-up of psychological scar-tissue. Rafa's iron will is simply beyond question - but I will always tune in from now on, wondering if he will get through his match without somethink tweaking somewhere. And if he feels the same way deep down, he may need to cut a new cloth before long.

'wondering if he will get through his match without something tweaking somewhere...'

I agree with you gorafago. I also feels the same way. I believe even Rafa himself will feel the same way too. This may be something that will hold Rafa back in future, so that he may not go all out chasing every ball. This may be viewed as something positive or something negative, as there is always two sides to a coin. I'll choose to concentrate on the positive, and that is, this may lead him to more aggressive style of play and less attritional style of play. In fact we've already seen him being more aggressive at Doha and the AO. This I think is the right step forward, and we see how good he can be by beating Davy 6-0 in the first set at Doha. What he needs to do now is to try and sustain this aggressive style throughout his matches, and continue to work on his serves. When all these are in place, I believe he'll win tournaments against the top ten players and his confidence will soon be back. Who knows, as we begin a new decade, we may be seeing a Rafa who is entering into a new phase of his career, by becoming a more offensive and less defensive player and he may scale new heights! As Fed put it, the greatness of Rafa is yet to come! Vamos Rafa!

Ricky's right. No way Rafa plays Madrid. He's still mad about it from last year, not to mention the deplorable condition of the clay, the SHINY METAL seating next to the court, etc...

He'll have had all the clay matches he'll need going into RG what with MC, Rome and Barca. He doesn't need Madrid for playing time.

Yes he did make no.1 hold the Olympic gold and 3 slams on differenct surfaces including the French/wimb double, contributing to his countries Davis cup title, 1st round and semi's, 4 masters shields more, one heck of an achievement in fact probably will go down in history as one of the best seasons in tennis! and just when you think he couldn't do better he wins two epic matches back to back! I know it has all taken its toll, but would I change him and what he has given us, hell know, this great athelete has given us the best tennis we have seen, he is already a legend. All the best of luck to him, I do hope he finds greatness again, tennis is not the same without him. Vamos Rafa always!

"well, at least he can say "I was the world #1". and you can say "I'm the proud owner of fake mensa membership card I like to brag about".

Nice, rfzr! Did you come up with that one yourself or did you have help?

I would suggest, however, that if you were to step out of the warm, soothing glow of undying Rafa-love that bathes and comforts you, you would see that my comment was made with no intent to insult Rafa -- or even his fans.

As gorafago said, it's the price some must pay for greatness. Everything is trade-offs. (And of course, time will tell whether this is just a set back or a more permanent step back -- but it's not looking good right now.)

On the one hand, Rafa, for a while, was able to knock the GOAT down a peg and keep him from winning EVERYTHING. On the other hand, doing so might well have cost Rafa a long career. I'm not saying that the decision to do that was wrong. Obviously there's a very good argument that it WAS the right choice. He's going down as one of the all-timers; he's rich; he's still young. He can do whatever he wants for as long as he likes from now on. Heck, even you were able to notice: At least he got there.

I was just making the point. That you chose to take offense is not my problem.

(And whenever you want to match wits, Junior, I'm here. I'll even leave my fake Mensa card at home.)

"Nice, rfzr! Did you come up with that one yourself or did you have help?"

hmmm let me think first for a moment, hmmmm, oh yea I remember now, Peter Griffin helped me a bit so I could be at par with your undeniably, utterly, sizzling, mesmerizing and above all self-loving brain capabilities that just make my jaw drop beyond the sea level.

not a Rafa fun.

sorry, Rafa fan; your superiority just makes me lose my composure.

Just like Davy in a Slam ...

well, what can i say, couldn't come up with a brilliant toilet stunt.

That's what a fake Mensa membership will do for ya! See? You think of these things.

(And my apologies to Rafa fans for assuming that rfzr was one.)

I am in complete agreement with cheryl and ricky. No way does Rafa play Madrid! If I have to travel to Mallorca myself to get in his face and tell him! lol! Madrid was the nail in the coffin for his knees last year. He never should have played it in the first place. He won the battle in that semifinal with Djoker, but he lost the war, because his knees were gone for RG and Wimbledon. As ricky said, just too close to RG.

Barca is fine as far as I am concerned. Frankly, right now all I want is for him to have a good recovery from this latest injury. That's the most important thing. If he can come back in one month, I don't think he should lose a lot of the good form he was showing. Rafa needs to take care of himself if he is to continue playing.

I want Rafa back playing again! It's not the same without him.

Nativenewyorker... i reckon we go to mallorca to tell him to skip madrid. just because... then we get to see rafa. hahaha :P

"That's what a fake Mensa membership will do for ya! See? You think of these things."

ha ha, no toilet mensa for me, but i encourage you to keep your membership tho.

Sib69,

I am ready if you are! A great excuse to see Rafa and give him a big hug and tell him we love him and can't wait for him to come back! Tennis isn't the same without him! lol!! :)

Shhh, rfzr. Don't tell anyone else that it's fake ...

Nativenewyorker: sounds good to me! haha. mallorca here we come :P

(whispering) SenorPlaid no worries but your degrading wit reveals you, can hold for much longer.

Dude, this is only the first set ...

And did you mean I CAN'T hold OUT for much longer? Being that my Mensa membership is only fake and not real, I'm not sure I can translate bonehead into English.

no i meant i can hold the secret much longer than your degrading wit. indeed, fake, fake, fake.

vamos Rafa!!

Hope you get better and healthy very soon! We miss you on the courts!

Isn't the Madrid still a Masters tournament and therefore required for top players to play unless they are injured? I guess he can get around that though. What, if any, is supposed to be the penalty for skipping out? And before anybody brings it up, I know the maestro skipped Shanghai last year just because he didn't want to play.

chr18: Delpo also wisely skipped Cincy to peak for the USO. If you skip a Masters (other than MC, cause it's not mandatory), you have to take 0 points for it. I'm not sure, but there might also be a fine if there's not a valid reason.

I wish I could share everyone's optimism that Rafa'll be sensible re Madrid. Spanish fans have talked about the insane pressure on Rafa to play in Spain/DC, and I've read interviews with him basically saying the same thing. And, it's not like he freely made the decision that it was crazy to play Rotterdam, he had to be brought to his knees and forced there.

I hope he realises that he can't play a full clay schedule, but I'm not at the point where I'm sure he will. Barca scares me heaps, cause I just don't think he can play 3 straight weeks without exacerbating probs. But he floves it, it's his home club, and after that gigantic replica trophy fuss last year, I have absolutely no doubt he'll play there.

Stu: I agree. Not knowing what'll happen (and feeling pretty friggin scared right now), I'm just sooooo glad he got his dream of winning Wimby. Like he said, whatever happens, I have the trophies at home and 'nobody gonna take them from me'.

GBG,

Well then if you are right, it looks like Sib69 and I will be making that trip to Mallorca! lol! I need an excuse to get away. I am telling you that there is no way that he can play Madrid. Not if he wants his knees to hold up. I can see him feeling that he has to at least play in Barcelona, but another Madrid nightmare tournament right before RG? No way! Rafa has to keep his eye on the prize and that's another RG win. I realize there will be pressure and maybe penalties or whatever, but this is the reality of the situation. Rafa already did something he has never done before by retiring in a grand slam match, for the sake of his knees. Now he will have to make some additional tough decisions to protect his knees. The most important thing is to be healthy and able to go into RG in good form, not like last year when we now know he was taking oral anti-inflammatories and injections. If Rafa wants to be able to play Wimbledon this year, then he has to make some concessions. I cannot believe that he wants a repeat of what happened last year.

I guess all I can do is hope that good common sense prevails. Otherwise, I better see my travel agent and get those tickets now! Also, it might be a good idea to brush up on my spanish, it's awfully rusty! :)

chr18 - I think Fed can skip one Masters 1000 event as he has amassed more than 600 matches in his career.

NNY- I'm with you concerning Rafa's form. I think he is getting back his game and this two to four weeks rest may not hinder his progress. On hindsight, this forced rest may be good for him, as he can now let his body and his knees rest. Since coming back from injury last year, he has not had a good rest until now. After the four weeks, I believe he still has about one to two weeks to practice, and most probably, he'll concentrate on improving his serve.

From the match against Andy, I can see that he played really well and aggressively. The only thing is he needs to improve on his serve; also I can see that he was tense or without calm throughout the match. He may not win IW or Miami, but once the clay season starts, he may start to win the clay tournaments and his confidence will be back.

luckystar,

Yes, there is some good news here. I agree that he should work on his serve. The one thing that really stood out to me was his lack of mental toughness and confidence on the critical points in his match with Andy. Rafa had his chances and also must be able to break serve and then hold. You simply cannot give a break back against a top player. He definitely had his chances and was playing the best tennis I have seen since his comeback. He was aggressive, looking to come to net and going for his shots. He is still missing those down the line forehands when he has a break point. Those are shots he would normally make. But he is oh so close. That is what just killed me about the injury this time. However, as you said, there may be a silver lining to this cloud. His knees can only benefit from some badly needed rest. He will get the best treatment and work hard to get ready to play again. He tends to have a positive outlook on life and that will help in his recovery.

Here's to Rafa coming back healthy and ready to go again! :) I miss him terribly.

NNY, you really think Rafa needs to work on mental toughness? That's an interesting take to me, because I always felt that Rafa is among, if not THE, most mentally tough guys on tour. He just doesn't give up if his body is still enabling him to play. He could be two sets down, 0-5 down, 0-40 down and he will still sure as hell hit the ball with all that he had.

With the match with Mandy, I just think he wasn't completely *there*, which was why he was albeit missing his shots. Apparently he was having a little difficulty with the knee while he was out on the practice courts, and it got progressively worse when he tweaked it at the second set.

I would actually hope Rafa takes a little more time off, and come back when he was COMPLETELY fit, no more pushing himself to play. Hey, I still want to see him lift the Roland Garros trophy! :)

Smart move, Rafa!! We all want to see him being fit till clay season!! So, he should take all the time he needs and recover completely! Losing points is irrelevant. Vamos!

during* clay season.. :)

I understans what NNY is saying about the mental toughness, because Rafa has been a little bit fragile lately for reasons that have been well documented. I do also think that he gets nervous at key moments, like when he is serving for the match or the set. It was pure nerves that made him lose to Davy at Doha, because he was playing lights out tennis.




Get Well Soon Rafa, tennis needs you badly
Vamos

guys, i honestly think he'll skip madrid. he didn't wanna play there last year anyways and he knows he has to prioritise so he can win the french open again. but i'll go to mallorca with Nativenewyorker anyways to double check :P

Rafa gets nervous now cause he's trying to change his playing style.More serve and volley,playing closer to the baseline,playing more aggressive.He's not use to that.
he started this year playing more aggressive and it's gonna take some time.He was progressing well.Now he's out for 2 weeks but the other 2 weeks he can work on his game.Once he feels more comfortable ,playing aggresive,then he won't be so nervous.he had murray in both sets but his nerves let him down when he was moving forward for those volleys.

For the record RAFA will always be known to have snatched the (GOAT) Crown from FED by stopping him in W08 and again at AO09. And that's all because there will always be others like Big Mac gainst Borg and Andre against against Pete or for that matter Stefan against Evan but the other will always be remembered to be ahead.

'but the other will always be remembered to be ahead'

What does 'the other' refers to, newfangkc? Don't seem to understand this part of the statement.

'RAFA will always be known to have snatched the (GOAT) Crown from FED....'

I'm not sure that this alone will define Rafa's career, as nobody knows for sure how Rafa's career may turn out in the future. He may be able to carve out his own distinguished career without having anything to do with Fed, and may have form a new rivalry with some other player(s). After all, he still only 23. Who knows, he may one day play the role of Fed and has his own rival playing the role of Rafa. The future is unknown to us, so it is still early days to limit Rafa to the role of just a challenger to Fed.

According to Rafa's Facebook update he is back in Barcelona where he had additional test done on the knee. He will hear the results tomorrow morning.

Based on the test results Rafa has a ?minimal focal tear? on the back part of a tendon in his right knee. This will forced him to rest for two weeks and miss Rotterdam tournament.


Get Well Soon Rafa. Tennis needs you, badly.
Vamos

carrie,

Thanks for explaining what I was trying to say about Rafa's mental toughness. You are exactly right. It's true that one of Rafa's greatest qualities was his mental toughness in matches. But that quality has not been there at the critical points in matches since his comeback. The match with davy at Doha was a perfect example. Rafa had the match on his racket. When does Rafa lose a match that way? It has been one of the more troubling aspects of his game as he worked to regain his best form.

It happened again in the match with Murray. Rafa got the break in the first set, but was broken right back by Murray. Then Rafa has Murray down 0-40 at 4-2 in the first set. Those are break chances that you have to convert. But he didn't get it done and he had his shots. In the second set he got the break to go up 4-2. Once again Rafa had the set on his racket. All he had to go was hold his serve for two games. But Murray broke back again to even it up and then we had the tiebreak. When Rafa was playing his best, he was always difficult to break. That's the Rafa I have been waiting to see.

Now we have this latest injury. I think Rafa definitely saved himself from a more serious injury by retiring. I am proud of him, because I know it had to be hard. But he will get the best treatment and then be back in action. I am still not sure I totally understand that minimal focal tear on the back part of a tendon, but as long as it doesn't keep him out for too long, that's good news.

I am having Rafa withdrawal already. Sib and I really do need to go to Mallorca and pay Rafa a nice visit while he recovers. :)

carrie, that update was on thursday. so the results he had were yesterdays when he was told to take a month off

looking forward to our trip to mallorca nativenewyorker. we can help rafa in his recovery... somehow :P

I'm feeling a bit more hopeful now than last week that Nadal will be more 'sensible' this year and will manage to play another ... two? years competitively. Of course I hope it will be even for longer.

Remember that Nadal was so excellent as a boy that his professional career started 3 - 5 years earlier than almost any current top-100 player. So arguably his tennis 'age' now is not going on 24 (at RG) but going on 27, 28 or 29.

If you agree, then notice that it is not certain that any of Djokovic, Murray, Delpo and Cilic will have won 6 slams by the time they will be 27 or even 29.

Nadal hasnot snatched the Goat crown from Federer, he has won just 6 majore 10 less than Federer only ranked no 1 for 46 weeks Federer has 268 and counting, Nadal has never won the Tennis masters cup, never won the US open and outside clay he has not dominated any major. Federer is still the best most complete, most consistent and least prone to injury player especially at the majors.

"Federer is still the best most complete, most consistent and least prone to injury player especially at the majors."

agreed 100% but who cares about Roger, this article is about Rafa; stay on topic please

what a to$$er. Fed can win 100 slams, but he will always be remembered as the crying baby and the sore loser from AO09. He's the whipboy of Rafa who time and time again has shown to Fed who the real daddy is.

A fully fit and injury free Rafa plays the kind of tennis that flows like a butterfly and stings like a bee. Time and time again, he thrills fans around the world even when losing. While watching fed playing is like watching lawn bowling. Its great for a 70yo, but not so much if you are younger.

Simple example of the above, just look at the number of matches that can be considered as CLASSIC in the last 5 yrs, how many them features Fed and how many of them got Rafa in it??? Rafa beating Fed in Wimby, in AO, Rafa V Verdasco, Rafa V Djoker in Masters in rome, Monte Carlo and Madrid. Rafa is a crowd pleaser that time and time again brings us something special just when it seems there could be none. fed on the other hand is like a glass of water, tho doing the job, has no flavour or taste in there, its fun for while, but you quickly get sick of it.

Tennis without Rafa is like soccer without Brazil, basketball without USA, cricket without Australia and table tennis without China. Rafa brings far more entertainment value out of the sport of tennis than anyone else there is out there in the history. Tennis is never the same without RAFA. Rafa is immortal. He is the next best thing to GOD.

Hoope you will get better Rafa, pls do it for the fans and skip Madrid. If you do that, you know you will have the French in your pocket.

Hala hala hala Rafa, Time to lift your 7th heaven on your favourite surface.

woow! that was awesome AZN2NVY:)

"Tennis without Rafa is like soccer without Brazil, basketball without USA, cricket without Australia and table tennis without China." >>> This is so true. Hope he plays competitively for some more years for the sake of tennis.