Should fans be concerned that Nadal plays too much?

Question

Ive been reading blogs and threads from fans speculating as to which atp dirt tourney he should skip just to make sure his body doesnt give in to the grueling sked he has and now we see him playing doubles...its ok if this one is just to keep his volleys sharp but if he continues playing doubles at every atp dirt tourney he's entered, thats a different story...

Here's a sample of how zealous Rafa is

ORDER OF PLAY, SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2008

Worldwide TV Schedule

COURT CENTRAL start 11:30 am

J Coetzee (RSA) / W Moodie (RSA) vs [4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH)

Not Before 1:30 PM

[4] N Davydenko (RUS) vs [2] R Nadal (ESP)

[1] R Federer (SUI) vs [3] N Djokovic (SRB)

R Nadal (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) vs [8] J Bjorkman (SWE) / K Ullyett (ZIM)

Answer 1

he is young  and fit .so whats wrong in him playing

Answer 2

I have also been a bit concerned about this but it's all good practice! You can see he is very fit and so should be able to cope with the strain and to be honest doubles doesn't take too much effort and he is only looking to get the feel of the courts through his doubles anyway.

Answer 3

He has his own body to feel. But it is surely exhausting & may affect his singles match specially against the top10 players of the world. Maybe his goal is to win for the money as well as a form of practice, adopting double's technique applying it into his singles matches to beat top contending players & be ready to counter their various styles of shots. As a well rounded preparation for the Grandslams. But he must avoid injuries or he may suffer the consequences.

Answer 4

i think he's not playing too much.. he just reached this far in doubles because he play well as well in doubles and he also want to get up in the rankings in doubles... he's not playing too much because he didn't play in estoril or valencia last week... hope nadal wins in singles and hopefully in doubles as well... :) go nadal... and by the way, he's not playing long this week... i think he haven't have a match yet this week that have gone to three sets... and he need to defend all those points he have earned in the claycourt season.. GO NADAL!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

I would say yes, especially when you consider what a physical style he plays: all the rallies are long and even a seemingly easy 6-1, 6-2 match can be quite a grueling affair. At the moment, his body's holding up but he could be in for trouble down the road. If he wants to have a long career, he needs to find ways to shorten points. After all, at 6' 1", he shouldn't have trouble developing a more potent serve and he could maybe work on flattening out his shots more, particularly on faster surfaces. Cutting back on his schedule wouldn't hurt either.

Answer 6

No, he needs to play more on clay, to get the momentum for the French Open. On clay, if you play less, you are going to be punished. In addition, he needs to defend his 2650 ATP ranking points. Losing those will close the gap between him and Djokovic which we do not like so much. We should see him snap the No. 1 first from Federer rather than going down to No. 3.  Nadal is young, brave and talented yet he has demonstrated so much success.

Answer 7

Yes, especially after the last several years where when he's gotten to the hardcourt part of the season and the U.S. Open he ends up having more issues with his knees.

The thing is too that it's not just the fans that worry.  I've heard tennis commentators voice concern about the way he schedules himself over the last several years.

While it's important to defend the points as mentioned by one of the other posters I think he needs to revise his schedule a little bit as a way to protect himself from injuries.  I think that he could probably also use a bit more work on fitness which can help with reducing the number of injuries.  I know that Justine Henin on the Women's side had to do this as well.

Answer 8

No rafa is soooo physically fit that it wont have any impact on him playing tomorrow in the final. He will beat federer in straight sets for the title :) ! As for Nadal complaining about the atp scheduling, he is quite right its not fair on clay courters what is it like 3 tournaments in 4weeks? its ridiculous and nadal has every right to complain. Soooooooo shut the h**l up ugly !!!!!!!!!!