When will the tennis world be fortunate enough to see Rafa Nadal play a competitive match again? He is becoming somewhat of an elusive creature who is beginning to sound like the Yetti of tennis…you know of them and hear of them, but they remain to be seen. As of today, it has been exactly six months since Rafa Nadal played a real tennis match, it just so happens that it was his exit at Wimbledon. That’s a long time for a top level player to be out of action.
Earlier this week Rafa Nadal announced that he was not going to be able to participate in the Abu Dhabi tournament that was supposed to start on Monday December 31, 2012,
I am very disappointed that I will not be able to compete this year in Abu Dhabi. I was really excited about returning to play and I always have a wonderful experience at the event and this is the first time I will miss the tournament.My rehab has gone well, my knee feels good and I was looking forward to competing. Unfortunately doctors have informed me that my body needs to rest in order to fight this stomach virus. I would like to say sorry to all my fans in the United Arab Emirates and around the world, but I hope to play and win in Abu Dhabi again next year.
And just this morning on his Facebook feed, Nadal shocked the world again with his withdraw from the 2013 Australian Open,
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 the Acapulco tournament to compete again although I could consider to play before at any other ATP event
My knee is much better and the rehabilitation process has gone well as predicted by the doctors, but this virus didn’t allow me to practice this past week and therefore I am sorry to announce that I will not play in Doha and the Australian Open, as we had initially scheduled.
All this Rafa Nadal stuff is getting suspicious
It’s like, suddenly Rafa Nadal loses to a player who he should have demolished in straight sets, then he essentially vanishes from tennis for the next six months. At times, letting the world in a little bit by posting pictures of him “rehabbing” his knees and doing a lot of fishing and golfing; and now he’s just messing with his fans and tennis.
Seriously. All this flip flopping about coming back and when is starting to get tired and down right suspicious. Why would he pull out of the 2013 Australian Open so far in advance with this stomach bug? It’s not like there aren’t 5 tournaments before the 2013 AO to warm up his probably rusty tennis.
I do understand that coming out of a long hiatus to a best of 5 tournament may be tempting fate with his current ‘in question’ career. Best just to stay home and make his way back on tour, or rather, the clay season. But the reality is, he is flip-flopping far too often for this to not be suspect of something bigger and more damaging that just a “flu” or “knee injury.”
-Pass me my tinfoil hat please- Could the great Rafa Nadal be serving a mythical silent ban for something dirty he did that the public doesn’t know of? Is he on the receiving end of suspension from professional tennis but has been covered up to not deface the sport that is mostly clean? Are we living in the middle of a major ITF/ATP conspiracy to keep the public from knowing the truth? The reason for doing it silent would be obvious: they don’t want to hurt their priced superstars and lose sponsor money. If the kids stop idolizing their player and don’t buy Rafa Nadal shirts anymore or don’t watch TV tennis loses money.
Of course, all of this is just a rumor and there is absolutely no evidence of this being fact, therefore this is only opinion and speculation. The truth is out there. It certainly feels like there is something happening behind the Nadal curtain. If Nadal pulls out of Acapulco then my suspicions will get stronger.
There is good news in all of this, Rafa Nadal won’t be the leading Spanish player, David Ferrer will likely replace Nadal as the #4 in the world. Congrats to him.
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