Nadal withdraws from Doha and AO

[Corbon]

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... eturn.aspx

I guess this will be expanded to include Indian Wells and Miami as well so (maybe) see you in Monte Carlo.

[Moralspain]

You're probably right about Montecarlo,...... not for the knees this time though, i don't know if the official news are true or not, i mean maybe his knees are not right yet or maybe he really has an stomach virus but anyhow it was not a good idea to play a Grand Slam, on hard court, with matches than could last 5-6 hours when you haven't played tennis for the last 6-7 months.

btw is it true Federer won't be playing in Miami?

[Corbon]

Yep, Fed will only play Indian Wells where he's the defending champion. Playing the back-to-back Florida Masters events, especially with consistently deep runs, isn't getting easier with age I guess. And he doesn't have many points to defend from Miami so it's a sensible move.

With Nadal's withdrawal Ferrer will be moving up to #4 after the AO.

[C4iLL]

A lot of people say Nadal is suspended by the ATP since Wimbledon ^^
As Soderling !

[Moralspain]

a silent ban?? hahaha i bet you read that on TT forum, they make up stories about Nadal every single day, it's a funny site. People also said that Hennin stopped playing becaise of that as well.

About the ATP covering it up, mmm, Puerta, Coria, Gasquet, Hingis (who according to her stopped playing tennis because she was tested with cocaine after Wimbledon), ATP did nothing in those cases, why now?, Nadal is an icon, and maybe the news could damage tennis, but Soderling?, Coria was also a super player, and they didn't cover it up......well it's a non sense.

Please don't get me wrong, Nadal could have been taking drugs, of course, as many others, but the press (i won't name newspapers...) would have, definitely, published it, no doubt about that mate, trust me

[Corbon]

Henin's retirement made no sense at all for me. Current No. 1 retires just before a Grand Slam where she's the three times defending champion. Right...

And then she comes back for two tournaments 18 months later.

On the other hand, the Williams sisters are very adept at skipping mandatory events without retiring.

[ICEMAN_9588]

Henin's retirement made no sense at all for me. Current No. 1 retires just before a Grand Slam where she's the three times defending champion. Right...

And then she comes back for two tournaments 18 months later.

On the other hand, the Williams sisters are very adept at skipping mandatory events without retiring.

She couldn't take anymore that life. She said "I want to live", or something like that.
And I can understand her, a lot of players, after their retirement (or during the carreer), used to say that playing professional tennis is extremely exhausting, you can't take care of anything else.

Justine Henin probably felt she reached all her targets in tennis, so she was left "empty".

[C4iLL]

Moralspain, your argument is not bad at all I admit. But what do you think about Armstrong's case ? A whole federation who covers a man because he's the symbol of his sport... If that does exist with cyclism, why not in other sports like football or tennis ?

Second argument : Agassi in his biography said he was banned but ATP hid it or something like that with a hidden injury.

Personally I was very supiscious before because Monfils suddenly stopped playing just for Olympics Game as Nadal and he didn't show up for a while. Plus the fact that everybody knows that the organization who make the control is different for Olympics than for normal tennis tournaments...

But one day Monfils suddenly came back playing at Stockholm by surprise in late 2012 and finally stopped his season just after this tournament (lost against a 400th ranked guy) because his injury wasn't definitely finished.
It was a proof that it was not a hidden suspension for me. So perhaps it's the same case with Nadal...

But imagine if the public learn that the top4 is full of drugs, what would it think ? It would be extremely dramatic for tennis, so the federation has real interest to cover that kind of stories...

[C4iLL]

Henin's retirement made no sense at all for me. Current No. 1 retires just before a Grand Slam where she's the three times defending champion. Right...

And then she comes back for two tournaments 18 months later.

On the other hand, the Williams sisters are very adept at skipping mandatory events without retiring.

She couldn't take anymore that life. She said "I want to live", or something like that.
And I can understand her, a lot of players, after their retirement (or during the carreer), used to say that playing professional tennis is extremely exhausting, you can't take care of anything else.

Justine Henin probably felt she reached all her targets in tennis, so she was left "empty".

Yeah it was like Borg did, it's far from being the first case in the whole tennis history. Davydenko recently said no professional tennis player like doing their "job" ^^

[Moralspain]

But imagine if the public learn that the top4 is full of drugs, what would it think ? It would be extremely dramatic for tennis, so the federation has real interest to cover that kind of stories...

Time ago, when Nadal started winning big tournaments etc his physical performances were insane, you really could think "This guy is doped", but...you know it was kinda normal because he was very young, full of energy and apparently strong, so at the beginning nobody said anything about him.

From 2009 and so on he hasn't been that guy anymore, do you remember his jumps on the court after winning a big point?? (btw he stopped doing that when he stopped wearing sleeveless tops, rare)), i can barely remember those days, nowadays he doesn't run more than his rivals, he doesn't win matches because of that, he has adapted his game, that's why he could win AO, USO....and Wimbledon years back.What i'm saying is that the last 4-3 years (and in 2010 he won almost everything!!) he hasn't been physically superior to his rivals, and it's now that everyone suspects he is doped??, no sense to me, he was suspicious 5 years ago, but not the last 3-4 years.

And about the top 4 being doped, no way Federer has been taking drugs all these years, he doesn't need them

All that said, everything is possible, maybe everyone takes drugs, and the footballers etc

[Corbon]

Nadal is set to return at the VTR Open in Chile on Feb 04.

[Corbon]

WIns hist first comeback singles match 6-3 6-2. Stands are packed.

Forehand didn't look entirely solid but the opponent was a no name and no real match.

[Algo4]

61 64 and he's now into SF.

[Corbon]

Lost the final in 3 against Zeballos. Still has to play doubles final.