Vamos Rafa! Looking forward to Acapulco and your exho in New York.

Rafa never goes beyond the next step. If asked about his chances in a tournament he always says he is only thinking just about the next match. Obviously, his recovery is still in progress so I'm 80% leaning towards him not playing I/W and Miami and waiting for the claycourt season. For one thing, sticking h/c events in the middle of the claycourt season is odd and Rafa hates moving from one type of surface to the other.

He will lose 720 points if he skips I/W and Miami but if that means he does well in the clay season and recovers well for the rest of the year, he'll be OK. I think he is now allowed to miss one mandatory tournament with no penalties.

Lindahl is a master at reading way too much into whatever Rafa says. Take this sentence - "He added ominously: Then we will see if we are ready to play in Indian wells or not."

What on earth is ominous about that? It makes perfect sense to me. I also agree that Rafa never thinks ahead. He takes it one tournament, one match at a time. His plan was to play these three clay court tournaments as the beginning of his return to competition. The idea was to see how his knee held up to being on court with maximum stress on it. I like how he made sure to say that it's not a matter of better rivals or surface. He's making it clear that he's not ducking facing top twenty players or hard courts.

I would think Rafa and his team will evaluate how his knee feels after Acapulco. As far as points lost if he doesn't play I/W and Miami, I believe that last year Rafa got to the semis at I/W losing to Fed and to the quarters in Miami when he had to withdraw because of his knee. I don't think it's 720 points.

My feeling is that he should skip the masters events in the States. I stated that on another thread. Those would break his clay season and put unnecessary stress on his knee(s). Even if he looses points, even if he get penalized, it doesn't matter in the long run. His health is the most important thing. He may need more rest, take it easy, and slowly get into the position where he would be in his best form. I root for him to recover completely.

I think if his knees are OK, he may play at IW and then goes home to rest. Of course if he loses early at IW, he may proceed to play at Miami. MC is two weeks away from Miami. so even if he goes deep at Miami, he still has two weeks to rest.

My take is he'll play at IW if he's fine physically, and if he goes deep there, he'll skip Miami. if he loses early at IW, then most likely he'll play at Miami. Stopping play for five/six weeks may not help him in his stamina building; another alternative is to enter one more small clay event before MC, but I think that's most unlikely.

Rafa will drop 720 points if he skips IW/Miami. He reached the SF at Miami too but withdrawn from the SF because of knee injury.

^^^^

I agree with your thoughts on playing at I/W and Miami. If he can play at least one of them, that could work. As you pointed out, he could get knocked out early at I/W. Then it would make sense to go to Miami. Or if he does go deep at I/W, then he skips Miami. If he does that, then he would have three weeks of rest.

The dilemma is that Rafa needs match play. Can Rafa skip one of these Masters events? Is he at a point in his career where he can do that? Otherwise, he would have to cite an injury.

Also, thanks for the clarification about the points at stake in I/W and Miami.

Yes, Rafa is allowed to skip one Masters event as he has played more than 600 matches. Come next year, he'll be in the tour past the twelve year mark and can skip another one. If he skips one now, that means he can't skip any during the second half of the year, unless he's willing to be penalized for skipping any.

I agree that whilst it would rest his knees to skip IW and Miami he needs match practice to strengthen his legs and sitting around for a few weeks before turning up in MC doesn't sound like such a good idea, because he needs to defend his clay points to stop him moving down the rankings even further.

I wish someone could just wave a magic wand and get Rafa 100% fit; all this down time is doing my head in. I just want Rafa back!

no l/w no miami for nadal MC will be 1st masters and the first real insight into nadal's game becoz djokovic will be there
in case nadal is unable to come with grips of his old game djokovic can benefit immensely but at the same time this RG is very important for nadal in case he is unable to defend his title he ll have a tough road atleat till RG 2014

further to this a RG victory will boost nadal's chances for wimbledon which will become highly unlikely in case of inability to defend RG and considering nadal's age and style of play next 7 8 slams are very important for nadal in case he fancies a shot at fed's 17 (or more slams {though it is difficult for federer to add to the tally} )

Although I would love to see Rafa play IW and Miami I think it is unlikely to see him there...he does not seem to be focused on h/c events just yet and I believe he and his team are aware of the fact that he is not there yet to compete against the best on h/c. Losing early in IW is not a goal...it would do no good to Rafa's confidence not to mention how it would boost confidence of his rivals...Rafa needs to carefully evaluate his chances and if his fitness and his knees are not ready he should just skip it...he will be missed of course but such a decision would benefit him in the long run.
Vamos Rafa!

I think we do not need to speculate about what Rafa would play or would not play. I'm sure he and his team know what to do. If Rafa can get back to his normal level on clay, I'm sure he's the one to beat at the FO.

Judging from his performance on clay so far, he still needs more work and match play; he's the king of clay so even at 80 or 90%, he'll beat most of his opponents. The most important thing is his knee not giving him any problem.

We can't help speculating, lucky, everyone is just anxious to see the light at the end of the tunnel with Rafa's injury. On the one hand he would probably be better off resting his knee, on the other hand he needs match practice. It doesn't help that Rafa gives contradicting messages all the time and so many people hang on his every word. Other players are left in peace to make their minds up about their next move but not Rafa. He is expected to give blow by blow accounts of what he is thinking when even he doesn't know what his next move is going to be because his knee is still recovering.

In one of his interviews in Chile he actually said he thought he would go down further in the rankings before he starts moving up again. That's probably because he knew he wouldn't defend his points at IW and Miami and that's why I am leaning towards him not playing either.

At the end of the day, if Rafa goes to IW and Miami half heartedly, because he feels he has to he is not going to perform well, so whatever he decides, his fans will just have to live with it and hope that the real Rafa will soon be competing 100% fit.

smart move Nadal is playing it safe Dont think he wants to play a hard court event any time soon

Isner just pulled out of his doubles citing another knee injury.

#RafaIsRight
#GetWellIzzy