Nadal Withdraws from Olympics

Rafael Nadal gave some shocking news on Wednesday, announcing that he was not going to be participating in the London 2012 Olympic Games.  He was going to be the flag bearer for Spain, but that honour has now gone to basketball star Pau Gasol.

Nadal's reason for not playing in the Olympics are his knees, which seem to give him trouble multiple times a season.  He claims he had issues with them at Wimbledon, and he has also had problems at Miami (when he had to withdraw against Murray) and at the Australian Open, before that tournament started.

Rafa's absence in London will help the rest of the draw that would have been on his side.  Perhaps helped the most will be David Ferrer, who suddenly gets the #4 seeding.  Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic, who are comfortable favourites to win it all, will have one less obstacle to overcome, since one of them would have met Nadal in the semis.

One thing is for sure: the hole Nadal leaves is big, just as it was at Wimbledon after his early exit.  The rest of the field, namely Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, and John Isner, will have much better opportunities with Rafa out of the equation.

As for Nadal and his bad knees, you can only hope that he gets healthy again soon.  If he does return healthy, he should be a great force as always, but that the key word there is "if."  Rafa lost to Lukas Rosol on June 28th, and the Olympics will start almost a month after that, so you know it is very serious.  The Rogers Cup starts right after the Olympics end, and it'll be interesting to see whether Rafa is healthy enough to compete there (he only has 2nd round points to defend).

The bottom line is this: Rafa is 26 now, and every injury he encounters will shorten his career from here on out.  He could probably get away with his bad health three or four years ago, but in this day, with the game becoming so increasingly physical, he'll have a hard time staying healthy as he ages (or as logic would dictate).

Nadal's style of tennis was not designed for a long career like Federer's.  No matter who you support, we can only wish that Rafa's career can stay strong and he can overcome the physical and mental (disappointment) strains that have been put on him in the past month.

If this injury is reminiscent of the one he suffered in 2009 when he had to miss Wimbledon, then that could be bad news for him (he had a terrible end to the season).  But being three years older, it may be more difficult to come back in the same fashion he did then.

If I could give any advice to Rafa right now, it would be to schedule much more wisely from here on out.  Less clay events during that heavy spring season.  And, if possible, start using a much more offensive approach to his game, where he won't put so much mileage on his body, and more specifically, knees.  He certainly has the ability to start taking the ball flatter and to be more offensive.  I believe it will be the only way if he wants to stay at his current standard for years to come.