Nothing in tennis makes me more crazy than reading article after article about the future of this or that player, where they stand in the game or whether or not the player will ever even lift a racket again.
Dinara Safina fell victim to this about a year ago and is still plagued by these tennis know-it-all's who seem to use nothing more than chrystal balls as their sources.
Since Rafael Nadal made an early round exit at Roland Garros they have been all over his (famous) butt as well. Mmm, let's see... He came back shortly after Wimbledon and made the semifinals of every tournament (except one) he played the rest of the year. He got to the season-ending championships in London and lost all three matches, true - but that surface kills him anyway. This year he started with a win at the exo in Abu Dhabi and a runner-up finish in Doha. These aren't good results? Is he required to win every tournament he enters?
Rafa pulled out of the match owing to another knee injury to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals of the Aussie Open last week. Hell, it was only a rankings fluke that that was not a semifinal match... but this latest bubble in Rafa's career is chum for all the doomsdayer's out there.
Peter Bodo writes on ESPN: At the risk of sounding flip, there's a serious risk Nadal has lost his mojo -- or at least suffered its diminishment due to his ongoing injury issues. Each week the guy isn't out playing and contending at tournaments takes a little away from his aura -- a glow generated by his ironman stamina and, more importantly, by the way being on a roll event after event now seems to have been so critical to his success as well as his mystique.
Fair enough. Sure there is concern but I would challenge his statement that his aura is being diminished. Someone like an Olivier Rochus is not going to take him out in the first round in Indian Wells. And something tells me Roger (though he'd never admit it) would still prefer to see his name on the other side of the draw.
Ed McGrogan writes on tennis.com: The Federer-Nadal rivalry is far from over, but Rafa’s recent spate of injuries and Federer’s increasing age—not that he’s slowing down at the moment, of course—suggests that we have likely seen its apex.
Again, how do you know? I see that you have employed the word likely but why can't the best be yet to come? What do you know that I don't?
It was exactly a year ago when Roger left Australia a crying mess and everywhere you looked it was this "Roger is done" crap. Then what happens? He goes on to win the next 3 out of 4 Slams. So much for those chrystal balls.
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