Rafael Nadal’s clay season at risk because of injury – Tennis News
There are doubts that the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, will be fully fit at the start of the clay court season due to the knee injury.
Nadal withdrew from his semi-final encounter against Andy Murray with a left knee injury at the Sony Ericsson Open last week.
The world number two needed medical assistance during his fourth round match against Kei Nishikori of Japan but looked fine versus Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinal.
The Spaniard said, talking to the reporters during the press conference in Miami, “I started to have problems on the knee before Indian Wells. But that problem [was] not limiting me to play at 100 per cent. So I played in Indian
Wells with the normal conditions, playing in good shape physically. Here, [it] is different.”
Nadal started the year at the Australian Open, where he lost to Serbian juggernaut, Novak Djokovic, in the longest Grand Slam final. The Spaniard took a break of almost six weeks and then reached the last four at the BNP Paribas
Open, losing to his biggest rival, Roger Federer, in the semi-final.
The left-hander added, “This year, I started well with no problems. Today is bad news, but that's the sport. We cannot expect playing as much as we play [to] be perfect every day of our life. Today is my turn. Everybody has problems,
and I will be working hard to be back quick on court and to play my best in Monte Carlo.”
The Spaniard faced severe problem with his knees in 2009. After winning the Australian Open, Nadal got injured at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. He faced his first and only loss so far at the French Open that year. He withdrew
from defending his title at the Wimbledon Championships, slipping to the fourth position from one in the South African Airways ATP Rankings.
Nadal had a 25-2 win/loss record during the clay court season last year, losing only to Novak Djokoavic in the title matches at the Mutua Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
The Spaniard gave an unbelievable performance in 2010, as he made a record by winning all the three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay court events and the French Open.
As we know Nadal grabs most of his ranking points during the clay court season, he should fully recover before that. He is the seven-time defending champion at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters which is also a record.
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