Thanks for posting the entire message Kieran..I posted on the other thread that mid November to early December Rafa hopefully will be painfree from his soft tissue hip recovery..if not I'm very concerned that his future results may be average by his standards.
They’ll be worse than his results post-Wimbledon semi withdrawal - and they were nondescript…
Well on the positive side, he is practicing and hopefully Rafa is just being transparent that he hasn't reached the point in his recovery where's his tennis abilities is totally painless.not too many players are this transparent IMO
Playing back to back matches at the AO in 2009, was one of Rafa's finest physical achievements as well, after the SF with Verdasco I doubted Rafa would have the physical strength in the final, of course how wrong was I
If anyone thinks that Rafa is going to play pain-free for the rest of his career, or if he's played pain-free for even the past few years, you're kidding yourself. He'll tough it out, but I think his pain-free years are behind him.
In my opinion, the last time Rafa played pain free was 2022 Indian Wells (before suffering the injury in the final). At this point, I think Rafa's main priority is to play in the Olympics for closure. Keep in mind, since winning the singles gold in the 2008 Olympics, Rafa hasn't really had a chance to defend that because he missed the Olympics in 2012 and 2021, and wasn't really fully healthy in 2016 (he withdrew from RG and missed Wimbledon prior the Olympics). If Rafa is even 80% healthy, he will win a few titles and be a contender at RG and the Olympics. Don't forget that Rafa struggled through the 2022 clay season after his return from injury in the IW final, but still won the French Open in a diminished state.
Quite frankly I think Rafa has always had suffered some pain in his career,
That was the mad RussianI didn't recognize the opponent, but his face said, "Well, I made the highlight reel."
Mikhail YouhzeyI didn't recognize the opponent, but his face said, "Well, I made the highlight reel."
I think it’s a great idea. He could get matches, whereas he’s likely to bomb out in round one of a bigger event, especially if he’s faces a seed..
Old bash-face. I always remember him dripping blood when he slammed a racket into his own head, try to tighten the loose screws inside it…
I'd like to see him play the Australian Open first, to see where he is. Then, if needed, he can play the 250-500 level tournaments post-Australian Open. The last thing I want to see happen is him playing a 250 level tournament pre-Australian Open and struggling/losing to nobodies like what happened at the 2021 Citi Open.
@PhiEaglesfan712 Why play just "give away" AO without being in top tournament championship conditioning.. Rafa has been in 6 finals there so we in know what he can do.. remember I think it was 2019. Rafa returns from an long layoff and destroyed the field but wasn't "ready" to face Novak's dominance game there. If Rafa begins a few challengers he may reach his peak level by early January..just my two cents worth
