Nadal practices in London, Moya says he is good to go

November 9, 2017 Ricky News 55

Rafael Nadal withdrew from last week’s Rolex Paris Masters prior to his scheduled quarterfinal match against Filip Krajinovic, citing a right-knee injury. Nadal was clearly hobbled during a third-round victory over Pablo Cuevas and there remain concerns that he will be unable to suit up for next week’s World Tour Finals in London.

But there is also some reason for optimism. The world No. 1 practiced in London on Thursday and coach Carlos Moya said his fellow Spaniard will be able to play.

“Rafa is fine; the knee is okay,” Moya assured. “He stopped just to take no risks. Rafa will be competitive in London because it’s the only big tournament he hasn’t won.”

Nadal owns a modest 16-12 lifetime record at the year-end championship, including 12-8 in London (4-4 in two appearances when the event was held in Shanghai). The 16-time Grand Slam champion has twice reached the final, losing to Roger Federer in 2010 and to Novak Djokovic in 2013. Due to physical problems, Nadal played this tournament only twice in a five-year stretch from 2012 through 2016.

He took to Instagram on Thursday, posting a photo his practice at the O2 Arena.

Federer, who split this season’s four Grand Slam titles with Nadal at two apiece, is the obvious favorite heading into London. Nadal would provide some much-needed competition, as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, and Milos Raonic are among those already sidelined by injuries. Wawrinka played enough in 2017 to qualify for the World Tour Finals, but he was replaced by No. 9 Jack Sock–the recent Paris Masters champion.

Nadal is in a round-robin group with Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov, and David Goffin. Federer is followed in Group B by Marin Cilic, Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, and Sock.

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55 Comments on Nadal practices in London, Moya says he is good to go

  1. Ricky, you nearly gave me a heart attack! 😉 When the alert came on all I could see was the first sentence ” Rafael Nadal withdrew…… and I thought, Oh no!!!!!!!!!! Because I’ve got tickets for Sunday and Monday at the O2.

    Reply

  2. It seems that winning the YEC (WTF) was low priority for Rafa all along until lately. In the past Rafa was more busy trying to win other big titles that he basically had nothing left when it came to the YEC, or worse still, had to miss it due to injuries.

    I counted, he qualified starting from 2005 which is a 13 straight years by now. He had missed it(due to injuries) in 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2016, ie a good 5 times! He did poorly in 2009 ( lost all RR matches) and 2011 ( won only one RR match); reached the SF 3 times (2006/2007, 2015) and Finals twice (2010/3013).

    It’s the only major title that he has not won, so I guess as he grows older and getting nearer and nearer to his retirement, he now places more importance in winning the YEC title to complete his already impressive resume.

    Reply

    • Rafa’s knees were very bad at the end of 2008. But he desperately wanted to play the DC Final that year and couldn’t even manage that. Rafa did have DC Finals (on clay) in both 2009 and 2011 and performed very well in both. Wonder if that may have had something to do with poor performances in the WTF those years?

      Reply

  4. Experts what are the chances of Goffin pulling a Coffin over Nadal in Rd1 of the WTA Finals considering that Nadal has knee issues for quite some time(right from the Asian Swing). I know Moya has said that Nadal is “Ready to Go”(Go where?!lol). Have you seen any coach saying that their pupil/student is having issues and is not 100% fit (giving fuel and motivation to his opponent)? Hell No!

    Considering that major injuries such as injuries to the joints, just don’t go away, does anyone see Goffin upsetting Nadal. If all 100% of you say AIY,AIY SIR!lol (or AIY,AIY Nadal) from your heart, then I plan to go big on Nadal!

    We are talking about this Tournament on IH which is NOT nadal’s favorite surface, right? Goffin has performed better on IH in 2017, right?

    Reply

      • Kavita is not the liar here and R. Federer fans are one of the nicest, humble, smart etc people you will ever met online and offline.

        R. Federer is THE best player this year and if a Fedal comes to fruition in WTF, I am sorry in advance.

        Reply

        • Uh, sorry but no! Kavita’s post is inflammator and just plain wrong!

          Let’s see how the supposed nice and wonderful Fed fans would react if she said that about Fed! By the way, I do not include Stanley in that category!

          This person has come on this site to spam and post garbage repeatedly. But now she has crossed a line.

          So Rafa has a knee injury at the USO? Maybe Kavita is confusing Rafa with Fed who came into the USO with lingering back problems and has to fight to scrape past the likes of Tiafoe and Youhzny in his first two matches.

          Rafa was fine and then played in the Laver Cup. He was fine in Beijing. Then in Shanghai he has his knee taped in the final.

          The last thing we need is people posting lies and garbage to defame Rafa!

          Reply

    • Kavita, with all due respect, I don’t know you and don’t want to criticize. I don’t either care which player you admire. Just want to mention some points that seem important to me:
      1. There is a huge difference and discrepancy between ‘God’ and a ‘liar’. If you want to attract some readers, you should avoid attributing those words to any player. For myself I decided not to waste time with your blog. Why don’t you participate in discussions here. Everyone is welcome as long as they are civilized and respect other posters.
      2. Any proof of Rafa having an injury at USO?

      Reply

  9. Rafa had bad knee only starting from Shanghai; some people talked nonsense, spreading rumors, they’re in fact the liars, not Rafa.

    Reply

    • Luckystar, from a medical point of view (with many doctors in my family and my self being a health Specialist) you (and many people here) have an poor, unlucky brain. Why? read below.

      God has designed human body to withstand normal wear and tear. When you abuse your body or body parts to stress of high level for quite some time then a body part starts failing. God did not think that Tennis players especially those who play on clay stress their knees a lot (sliding on clay & other surfaces and suddenly changing direction and running & stopping after few seconds etc.) and make the knee super strong for Tennis only!

      A body part fails only after repeated abuse for a long time, then the problem surfaces. Our body parts are designed by god to withstand quite some punishment. But there is a limit. During this “LIMIT PERIOD” when stress is loaded on to a body part, the body feels the stress/strain initially(during which period Nadal just continued without declaring to the world that I have some small stress in my knee. That would seem foolish to Nadal and he went about his business of playing more and making more money happily!) Most people ignore the initial symptoms. Especially tennis players as they want to play as much as possible and make as much money as possible. Being busy making money they and most human beings ignore the initial symptoms. Human being generally believe in the common adage “DON’T FIX/CHANGE ANYTHING UNTIL IT IS BROKEN”. It is true, but it doesn’t apply to the human body. And 99.99% of the people don’t know unless you are a sports doctor with deep knowledge of human body parts and how to make them work efficiently from sports point of view. I do sports(since childhood (mma,T&F etc.) and have many doctors in my family!

      After a tolerance limit has been crossed (The Tolerance limit varies from person to person based on the strength of their body etc.) then the body cannot withstand the pain any more and a body part fails. That is exactly what happened to Nadal. You guys saw the tape below the knees (meant to stabilize the knee and reduce the pain from the Patellar tendinitis caused by too much running,stopping,sliding,turning etc. on the tennis courts) in the Shanghai Open Finals VS Federer and thought that “Oh, that problem happened just now or yesterday! All laymen(99% of the people will think that way. It is OK, as they have no medical knowledge!). But the problem for Nadal happened long, long ago due to accumulated stress from playing for so many years and especially from playing too much in a short period of time (like playing 70+ matches in 2017 by Nadal this coupled with the fact that Nadal is in his middle age and is not a teen/youth no more, when body can withstand stress better!).

      Failure of a body part is just like a Volcano/Earthquake. When we see one most laymen think that it happened all of sudden just now. Little do these layman fools know that before a Volcano/Earthquake occurs a lot of stress develops in the earths crust for a long time before that.Many signals are sent through tremors of various intensities (like pain of varies intensities is felt before a knee or tennis wrist or shoulder fails and most will ignore it or just apply pain cream or ice and ignore the real problem and continue playing without treating the problem and giving sufficient rest to the body. Only true athletes Like Roger Federer understand this problem. That is why he smartly and intelligently plays the big matches giving big money and then rests his body to heal esp. his back and knees. That is why he avoids playing on clay to not stress his knee etc.)

      The LESSON to be learnt is that Nadal’s knee problems started long ago but it began to fail during the Shanghai Open finals, until which Nadal was withstanding or sucking up the pain and stress as he is a mentally strong person with tremendous will power just like the Elite marathoners have who can push through excruciating pain and continue until the end of the Marathon!). Depending on the extent of the knee injury, long rests need to be given to the knee besides strengthening of the muscles around the knee (thighs,calf etc. needs to be done). A week to 10 days rest may not be sufficient in most cases as the stress has been put on his knee ever since he started playing tennis on clay since age 5 or 6! So guys don’t talk rubbish without having the complete knowledge of a doctor especially a Sports doctor who specializes in Sports Injury! I and my sports team work with top Sports Injury Specialists/doctors like Rick Kaselj and others!

      Reply

      • Roger, perhaps you’re the one born with an unlucky brain! Whether you’re from a doctor’s family or not, you’re not the one who examined Rafa’s knee, don’t try and act smart here and telling others that they’re stupid.

        Rafa was running and hitting fine at Beijing, playing well at Laver Cup too, so there’s no problem with his knee; it was after playing B2B weeks from Beijing to Shanghai that he felt the strain on his knee. He was perfectly fine at the USO, unlike what that Kavita so claimed (that Rafa played with injured knee at USO).

        Please save us the troubles of reading your long post, and mind your manners!

        Reply

        • I have infact included couple of examples so that you can understand:

          Saying “Rafa was running and hitting fine at Beijing, playing well at Laver Cup too, so there’s no problem with his knee;” is uncorrect Because……one can still play with a stained/paining knee or any other body part (without telling or anybody knowing about it. Besides Nadal is a very stubborn and tough SOB. He has a high pain threshold level (like a Spanish bull) and will play through many injuries/strains! That is a fact! I have ran 5K, 10K and Cross country races (even many of my friends have) with an injured ankle and knee without anyone knowing about it. So, Nadal does not have to declare to the world and especially to his opponents that he has an injured knee or wrist etc. SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING (always).

          You could be seeing a man next to a stabbed victim. It doesn’t mean that that man is the attacker (as you will think like you think about Nadal running and playing…and thinking that Nadal is NOT HAVING ANY KNEE PROBLEMS!

          Since Nadal is having a major problem with his knee NOW means that he has been having this problem for a long time (Tennis Occupational hazard) with varying degrees of strain and pain. It doesn’t mean that Nadal woke up the day of Shanghai Open final(according to simpleton’s like you) and his knee had serious injury! It is real foolish to think like that or hallucinate like that (maybe under the influence of Crack Cocaine, LSD, Marijuana, Magic mushrooms, Heroin, Opium, Ganja etc. then it is possible!lol)!

          Kavita could be correct when she said that Rafa injured his knee at USO. Maybe he started feeling major pain and strain at USO. Nadal didn’t obviously fall (like Goffins unlucky fall and injury recently @USO, which is the other way one can injure some body part abruptly, which didn’t happen to Nadal. So, Nadal’s injury has been a slow abuse case as it happens to 1000’s of athletes. You can call it as occupational hazard!) It is very plausible because 1) with long term abuse(of knee & other body parts)/playing 2) suddenly playing a lot of matches in 2017 as Nadal did(more than 70+ matches)…old injuries or problems can aggravate. So at some point (@Shanghai Open) Nadal’s knee injury just exploded like a volvano erupts but the problem starts many years before that and shows major stress/pain few months before it becomes a major problem or failure occurs. Our human body is just like volcano/earthquake, it takes years for the pressure to build inside and it sends many warnings like minor to major tremors before the eruption or quake occurs. Even Nadal must have felt it for a long time who may have either ignored it or just taken temporary measures (like pain creams, pain killers etc.). You don’t know that and Nadal will never tell you or me about the temporary measures that he took. Got it P.Brain?lol

          You just need either 1) common sense 2) Some basic medical knowledge/sports injury related knowledge. I not only come from a medical family but have been doing multiple sports since age 5 and had numerous injuries besides studying the injuries of my fellow classmates, college mates and club/Team mates.

          Read what Sanju posted.

          “Apart from PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS (KNEE INJURY, he was referring to), Rafa is very good,” said Moyà. “I think he would be a good candidate to the fullest. With his problems in the knee we are playing and we will see how the next days are going. It’s something that has been there for a good part of the year and has been managed, until in Paris it was more complicated, “recalled the Spaniard. “We are talking about Nadal, a player who has a very high pain threshold, but we have to take stock and not force it to the point that it could harm him in the future. It’s something we have in mind. ”

          Reply

          • Ricky can you please look at roger’s comment on daily picks which I complained about yesterday?? I t was extremely offensive as is normal with both him and Stanley. Many people have complained about both of them and asked they be moderated.
            Many thanks.
            Ps the way they write about women and address them on site is habitually appalling

  10. ^This person claims to be a journalist? Nothing but a federer blind admirer and a Nadal hater. Glad I’ve never clicked on any of the links posted.

    He only started to have knee issues Shanghai onward.

    Reply

    • That same person go to different websites to promote his/her blog; I saw he/she posted links to his/her blogs at tennis.com too.

      Reply

  11. Such biased journalism, Federer wins a GS has a great year, and its all about what an amazing sportsman he is, how incredible he is blah, blah, blah, yet when Rafa does it, it questionable, hes doping, hes a liar, while i have no issue with Fed winning the ATP player of the year etc, i just hate the biased journalists , and their double standards ….

    Reply

    • What R. Federer and R. Nadal have achieved this year especially R. Federer is beautiful just amazing.

      Congrats 2 both player’s.

      None of the injured top players were absent when R. Federer won his 2 GS and most of his titles this year, they all participated in the tournament but he won it with class.

      Reply

      • Yet another pathetic attempt to demean what Rafa has done this year!

        Hey it’s not Rafa’s fault that Fed didn’t play at RG! Novak and Murray were there!

        Just sour grapes because Fed was dealing with back issues and other issues during the USO!

        Rafa took advantage and won! Case closed!

        Reply

        • Yeah NNY,

          Rafa did beat Stan at the FO final, just like Fed beating Stan at the AO SF; it’s not like Rafa didn’t get to beat any of the top three guys to win his slam title.

          As for Djoko and Murray, so what with them being there when Fed won his slams (not forgetting they were there too when Rafa won his FO), when Fed didn’t even need to beat them, as they’re simply not good enough to meet him (and Rafa). Djoko and Murray were beaten by someone else at AO, FO and Wimbledon, it’s not like Fed beat them to win his titles!

          You’re right NNY, this is just another pathetic attempt from the said poster to demean Rafa’s achievements this year. Fed wasn’t good enough to meet Rafa at the USO, it’s Fed’s own fault, not Rafa’s.

          Reply

  13. Benny.G true but that wasnt what i was reffering to i was reffering to Kavitas link, which was a journalist having a dig about Nadal winning the USO, which was my initial point, i dont give a monkeys toss about Federer winning comeback player of the year, he can have it for all i care, and he deserves it ….

    Reply

  14. I just hope Carlos is not masking the injury in order to get the press spotlight off his pupil.
    I hope that Rafa is ready to give everything, as always, and more importantly, be healthy at the end of the event, so that he can prepare himself in the best way for a strong 2018.
    Vamos Rafa ☝💪

    Reply

  15. “The discomfort continues, but it is better than in Paris. Surely, in another tournament we would have opted to rest. Being the last of the year, taking time to recover and dealing with the Masters Cup … obviously you want to play, try to compete and try to win the title, “he warned.

    “Maybe, if we were in another tournament the approach would have been another,” agreed the player. “It depends on the event that was and the situations in which we were,” he insisted. “This is the decision we have made today and we will try to do it in the best possible way. I can not predict how I’m going to feel tomorrow or what’s going to happen, but my idea is to be here and compete until I do better than my rival or until my rival does better than me. ”

    “Apart from physical limitations, Rafa is very good,” said Moyà. “I think he would be a good candidate to the fullest. With his problems in the knee we are playing and we will see how the next days are going. It’s something that has been there for a good part of the year and has been managed, until in Paris it was more complicated, “recalled the Spaniard. “We are talking about Nadal, a player who has a very high pain threshold, but we have to take stock and not force it to the point that it could harm him in the future. It’s something we have in mind. ”

    This is how the hours before his debut in the Masters Cup takes place. Nadal trains better and better, uses more time than usual on the stretcher to complete his rehabilitation and sharpens his hearing: his intention is to play the Masters Cup, but any negative signal from his knee can change his mind in a second.

    Reply

    • Sanju AT 2:59 PM,

      I wonder why you skipped the beginning of the paragraph you quoted:

      ¤¤ “The knee is improving,” Carlos Moya, one of the tennis coaches, acknowledged this newspaper. “Today he had the first demanding test after progressing little by little. It has been the first day that he has moved playing points,” continued the former world number one…¤¤

      Reply

  16. Both in 2010 and 2013 when Rafa ended No 1, he reached the finals of WTF and lost to No 2 player. Will history repeat itself? To be honest if Rafa reaches final, I will be very surprised given the physical state. I personally will be very happy with a finals result if he makes it that far.

    Reply

  17. You misunderstood me Ricky. I was trying to point out that it doesn’t look like a minor injury given how Rafa was troubled in his movement. For sure if an imjury hampers too much a player, it won’t disappear fast. However,when things aren’t going their way, there are some players who sometimes act like they are hampered by something, faking an injury, but that’s for another discussion.
    By the way, please check your e-mail Ricky, I’ve been with problems to complete the registration here.

    Reply

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