Is Nadal Hurting Himself on Hard Courts or...?

[atttomole]

How can you be so unsure about those players if you're so sure about Nadal? You judge one player and yet pay no attention to the multiple injuries of others? That's rather a small sample you have there...one player. I'm not even sure what you're getting at. He's had a fair number of injuries, and also recoveries. You're doing some weird version of blaming him for his style of play and wishing him ill. What is your actual point?

I do marvel at how Nadal runs the way he does, chasing the ball to the terraces, covering the whole court better than everyone else, and still be able to play many matches in a row. It is clear that fatigue is not his biggest problem, but the running takes its toll on the knees. That is why I am saying that he should be injured more often given his style, not that I want him to be injured. He is really lucky because his injuries are not that bad. After every knee problem, he has been able to get treatment and come back to play.

 

[Moxie]

I do marvel at how Nadal runs the way he does, chasing the ball to the terraces, covering the whole court better than everyone else, and still be able to play many matches in a row. It is clear that fatigue is not his biggest problem, but the running takes its toll on the knees. That is why I am saying that he should be injured more often given his style, not that I want him to be injured. He is really lucky because his injuries are not that bad. After every knee problem, he has been able to get treatment and come back to play.

Rafa is a committed player. He works hard on training. He expects to suffer for his craft, which his uncle taught him. I think he has a high pain threshold, which has been to his detriment sometimes. In 2009, his knees were shredding, but he kept playing. The ability to run is a tribute to the training time put in. He has said that he ignores a lot of pain, which I think is true, and is why some folks wonder about when he stops and takes a break. He plays until he loses, even if it hurts. Note matches he's played without retiring, even when he was clearly impaired. (AO final '14, Rotterdam final '09, AO '10 v. Ferrer.) There is no doubt that he's a great competitor and will play on his last leg. I also have no doubt that he'll have to have his knees reconstructed when he quits tennis.

 

[Carol]

I thought it is quite simple. Rafa plays the most physical tennis in the history of the game, therefore his injuries should not be surprising. Sometimes his fans want to attribute his injuries to bad luck, conveniently ignoring his physicality. Everything else being equal, the more physical the player is, the more the wear and tear.

Nadal doesn’t play more physical tennis than Novak, Murray, Tsonga, Monfils, Ferrer (this one has had less injuries than Federer) Kyrgios (this one seems like he doesn’t like to do too much effort but he is a mess, knees, hip and back) and others but we know from where his knee injury came and I don’t think is worth to explain again and again. And while the Federer’s fans like to say always the same we know that many times they get injuries because to bad luck, if Federer got a knee injury giving a bath to his kids why we shouldn’t think that Nadal has got injuries just because a bad movement with his wrist or back and sometimes before the match like it happened to him in the AO 2014 and also this year playing against Cilic, that injury can happen to anyone anytime, and yes, the luck has to be a lot with

 

[Jelenafan]

Speaking of “injuries”, Robin Soderling never did recover from his mono. Technically it was an illness but I know other players who had mono and bounced back, was it a particularly serious strain that he had?

 

[isabelle]

That makes sense. So, what do you think is the reason for Nadal's injuries?

maybe he played too much ? or his body's more fragile than we believed ?

 

[britbox]

Speaking of “injuries”, Robin Soderling never did recover from his mono. Technically it was an illness but I know other players who had mono and bounced back, was it a particularly serious strain that he had?

I guess so. Massive fluctuations on how it can affect different individuals.

 

[Carol]

maybe he played too much ? or his body's more fragile than we believed ?

He didn't play too much this year, he missed IW, Miami, Acapulco, he played on grass only in Wimbledon and he skipped Cincy and his body is strong but obviously not his knee

 

[Carol]

Speaking of “injuries”, Robin Soderling never did recover from his mono. Technically it was an illness but I know other players who had mono and bounced back, was it a particularly serious strain that he had?

I know people that have had mono but never so badly like Soderling, maybe it was something else besides the mono? who knows

 

[atttomole]

maybe he played too much ? or his body's more fragile than we believed ?

I wouldn't say. In most matches, Nadal runs more than his opponents, which is already a lot. I think his body is actually less fragile than we think because he runs a lot. The number of tournaments in some cases does not matter. It is the number of hours spent on court. As he gets older, he may not recover as quickly as he used to.

 

[Moxie]

I know people that have had mono but never so badly like Soderling, maybe it was something else besides the mono? who knows

Ancic also lost his career to mono.

 

[Moxie]

I wouldn't say. In most matches, Nadal runs more than his opponents, which is already a lot. I think his body is actually less fragile than we think because he runs a lot. The number of tournaments in some cases does not matter. It is the number of hours spent on court. As he gets older, he may not recover as quickly as he used to.

He doesn't always run more than his opponents. For sure he makes a lot of them run. But he certainly puts in the hard yards. People have been saying for years, though, as @Jelenafan says, that he'd burn out young. Everyone is still waiting. I think a lot were surprised when he became the oldest ever YE#1 last year. Saying his style of play will shorten his career is nothing new. Neither is salivating over the notion. But he's been 17 years on the tour, and he's still #1...10 years after the first time. Folks keep waiting for him to break down.

 

[atttomole]

He doesn't always run more than his opponents. For sure he makes a lot of them run. But he certainly puts in the hard yards. People have been saying for years, though, as @Jelenafan says, that he'd burn out young. Everyone is still waiting. I think a lot were surprised when he became the oldest ever YE#1 last year. Saying his style of play will shorten his career is nothing new. Neither is salivating over the notion. But he's been 17 years on the tour, and he's still #1...10 years after the first time. Folks keep waiting for him to break down.

That is basically what I am saying. Nadal has not had serious injuries, notwithstanding his bruising style of play. Which is why I was saying that he is lucky not to have been seriously injured. I am not one of those who said he was on borrowed time.

 

[Carol]

Ancic also lost his career to mono.

Ancic didn't retire only because the mono, he had more issues in his body than that

http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Mario-Ancic,-Former-Top-10,-To-Retire.aspx

 

[Moxie]

That is basically what I am saying. Nadal has not had serious injuries, notwithstanding his bruising style of play. Which is why I was saying that he is lucky not to have been seriously injured. I am not one of those who said he was on borrowed time.

But you said this: "That is why I am saying that he should be injured more often given his style, not that I want him to be injured. He is really lucky because his injuries are not that bad." Bit on the edge there, but ok.

 

[Mastoor]

He doesn't always run more than his opponents. For sure he makes a lot of them run. But he certainly puts in the hard yards. People have been saying for years, though, as @Jelenafan says, that he'd burn out young. Everyone is still waiting. I think a lot were surprised when he became the oldest ever YE#1 last year. Saying his style of play will shorten his career is nothing new. Neither is salivating over the notion. But he's been 17 years on the tour, and he's still #1...10 years after the first time. Folks keep waiting for him to break down.

Exactly. Rafa is one of very best players in history and he makes others run not the other way around. He may run (not only marginally) more than his opponent only in the matches they make him run more than he does to them but that doesn't happen often.

 

[britbox]

Exactly. Rafa is one of very best players in history and he makes others run not the other way around. He may run (not only marginally) more than his opponent only in the matches they make him run more than he does to them but that doesn't happen often.

This doesn't make much sense. His opponents aren't in a Nadal matchup every match. He is.

 

[isabelle]

Ancic didn't retire only because the mono, he had more issues in his body than that

http://www.tennisnow.com/News/Mario-Ancic,-Former-Top-10,-To-Retire.aspx

he retired because of a serious back problem, he needed a surgery
same for Robin, mono was back behind him when he retired : he had a chronic wrist problem, he even saw a specialist in Paris but nobody could find any solution, he became a dad ans he decided to retire

 

[atttomole]

Exactly. Rafa is one of very best players in history and he makes others run not the other way around. He may run (not only marginally) more than his opponent only in the matches they make him run more than he does to them but that doesn't happen often.

It could be you are forgetting how Nadal plays. Nadal can return shots that would be winners against most other players. What does that tell you? It tells you that he does more running than the opponent, to remain in a rally which he would otherwise lose. His opponents have to do more running than what they are used to, but they hardly cover more distance than Nadal. With the slower playing conditions on most surfaces, he has an advantage. If Nadal had a better serve, then he would surely make opponents run more than he does.

 

[monfed]

dull's injury recovery speed must be some kind of world record.

 

[Carol]

dull's injury recovery speed must be some kind of world record.

Have you counted how many GS Nadal has missed because his injuries?