Nadal withdraws from Australian Open
Spaniard faces fitness battle to rescue career.
Nadal has spent much of his career battling tendinitis in both knees. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS:
Rafael Nadal heads into 2013 with his career in freefall and needing to summon up the no-surrender spirit that steered him to 11 Grand Slam titles, the world number one spot and $50 million in prize money.
The 26-year-old Spaniard has not played since June and on Friday announced that he will skip the 2013 Australian Open because of a stomach virus. But many in the sport believe that Nadal’s lengthy battle against knee injuries, which have plagued his career and kept him off tour since his shock Wimbledon second round loss to world number 100 Lukas Rosol, remains his prime concern.
World number four Nadal, who had been due to play his first official tournament in Qatar from next Monday, insists his knee is improving.
“My knee is much better and the rehabilitation process has gone well, but this virus didn’t allow me to practise this week and therefore I am sorry to announce that I will not play in Doha and the Australian Open,” said Nadal. “As my team and doctors say, the safest thing to do is to do things well and this virus has delayed my plans of playing these weeks. I will have to wait until February to compete again.”
Nadal will see his ranking slip out of the top five as a result of his absence from the tour. It will be the first time that he has fallen so low since 2005.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2012.
Rafael Nadal heads into 2013 with his career in freefall and needing to summon up the no-surrender spirit that steered him to 11 Grand Slam titles, the world number one spot and $50 million in prize money.
The 26-year-old Spaniard has not played since June and on Friday announced that he will skip the 2013 Australian Open because of a stomach virus. But many in the sport believe that Nadal’s lengthy battle against knee injuries, which have plagued his career and kept him off tour since his shock Wimbledon second round loss to world number 100 Lukas Rosol, remains his prime concern.
World number four Nadal, who had been due to play his first official tournament in Qatar from next Monday, insists his knee is improving.
“My knee is much better and the rehabilitation process has gone well, but this virus didn’t allow me to practise this week and therefore I am sorry to announce that I will not play in Doha and the Australian Open,” said Nadal. “As my team and doctors say, the safest thing to do is to do things well and this virus has delayed my plans of playing these weeks. I will have to wait until February to compete again.”
Nadal will see his ranking slip out of the top five as a result of his absence from the tour. It will be the first time that he has fallen so low since 2005.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2012.