Rafael Nadal could be fit to feature at the ATP World Tour Finals in London after scans showed no new damage to a long-standing knee injury, his doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro has revealed. The tendon injury is in no worse state than previously.
Cotorro will now put our champ on a rehabilitation programme which gives him the best chance of making London.
It is not a new injury or an injury that has worsened. It’s not a different situation than when we came from the Asian tour. All the images of the tests tell us that it is a bit the same, that the tendon is suffering.
It’s a tough year, a season with many games. The tendon is suffering, but the images do not show us anything different either.
The first thing was to stop and assess how the knee was, if something new had happened.
Now we know that there is nothing different, which is a situation that had been dragging on for some time.
The problem of tendons in different situations may bother more or less, but we will try to be good to play in London. If he is well, he will play, and if he is not well, he will give up playing. You have to see how it evolves these days.
Source: Press Association
The WTF draw is out.
Sampras group: Rafa, Thiem, Dimitrov, Goffin
Becker group: Fed, Zverev, Cilic, Sock
Basically they push returners to one group and big servers to the other group 🌗. Cilic and Sock would trouble Rafa less than Dimitrov and Goffin I believe. Definitely don’t want Rafa to play Dimitrov again this soon, if he plays, especially in his current state.
Anyway Rafa didn’t take part in the draw ceremony according to the Es press the other day. He’s on his flight to London right now. 🙂
Hi everyone. 4.5 days has been feeling like 4.5 weeks already. Just dropping in quickly to say Rafa is flying to London today (Wednesday) for the draw ceremony. They will present him the YE no 1 cup tomorrow and he will decide whether to play on Friday.
He was able to practise lightly for more than 1hr yesterday. There’s no way he’ll be fit in time for the WTF so I guess he’ll either skip it to be on the safe side or play it with so so results and risk aggravating the “on going injury”. Either way we’re gonna know very soon. Wish him all the best but personally I think he shouldn’t risk it.
Hi everyone. 4.5 days has been feeling like 4.5 weeks already. Just dropping in quickly to say Rafa is flying to London today (Wednesday) for the draw ceremony. They will present him the YE no 1 cup tomorrow and he will decide whether to play on Friday.
He was able to practise lightly for more than 1hr yesterday. There’s no way he’ll be fit in time for the WTF so I guess he’ll either skip it to be on the safe side or play it with so so results and risk aggravating the “on going injury”.
Fed is fit and looked every bit ready to win London in his exhibition match with Murray yesterday. It will be miracle if Rafa can win it somehow in the current circumstances.
Granted points and a secured no 1 ranking for about half a year next year are important. But no way they’re more important than his health and chances to win the AO – no scratch that, his season next year and in a bigger picture, his longevity.
He wouldn’t want to lose momentum too early again. And it has been the case with him for so many times and also with many players this year that trying to keep playing with on going/niggling injuries without substantial rehab period can only take you so far and make the problems worse, physical and mental.
Personally I still think he shouldn’t have played Beijing, 4 matches in 3 days at the LC; only played Shanghai and Paris or even only 1 one them. Might as well skip Abu Dhabi next month – it’s only an exo but from what I’ve seen players go for it and this year edition is going to be hot with Djokovic, Murray and Stan all participate; plus Brisbane is just around the corner the following week with a tough smaller Masters’s field.
Oh I almost forgot. He will be pratising with Dimitrov again off season. Looks like the two of them are developing a beautiful friendship. 🙂
I personally think Rafa should skip London. It’s 99% that he has to beat Federer in order to finally complete his Career Super Slam but the chance is very very slim, especially when Rafa isn’t in a good shape. Losing again to Federer will affect his mental terribly. By the way, Rafa needs to find a good game plan to attack Federer’s backhand. I know earlier in this year, Moya suggested him to attack both side like what happened in Miami 2017 but it just won’t work. Federer’s forehand is so good.
So it’s better to take a step back and have a strong off season with Moya. They also need to improve the serve and net game. Australian Open 2018 is the key for the G.O.A.T race since Rafa is the most favourite for French Open 2018 and suddenly the gap can be narrowed.