It would appear that various members of the Nadal camp aren't on the same page when it comes to his foot injury.

Nadal camp plays down injury fear
By Piers Newbery

World number two Rafael Nadal's camp have moved to calm fears about his future after comments regarding a foot injury from his coach Toni Nadal.

Reports suggested the 22-year-old's career was in doubt after uncle Toni admitted: "It's very serious. I don't know (if it's career-threatening)."

But the Spaniard's spokesman Benito Perez-Barbadillo told BBC Sport: "This is nothing new and really serious.

"It's something he lives with. It's definitely not career-threatening."

Nadal's season ended with a 6-4 6-1 defeat by world number one Roger Federer at the Masters Cup in Shanghai on 17 November, although he has since played an exhibition match against Richard Gasquet.

"He's had a very successful year," said Perez-Barbadillo. "He was probably the guy who played the second-most number of matches and he wouldn't do that if it was a serious problem.

"Rafa is not happy with what came out. He arrived back from a holiday in Egypt today and he starts training tomorrow, and plays an exhibition in Malaga at the weekend."

The physical nature of Nadal's game has often taken its toll - he had to pull out of a Davis Cup tie in March and carried a knee injury throughout the US Open.

"He's been affected by an injury to his foot since 2005," said Toni Nadal. "He has to learn how to live with it and so far he has managed for two years."

He added: "We are pleased with the season just finished, with the injury and everything. His play has improved and the matches have been less intense.

"Roger Federer is a fully-rounded player; Rafael has a different style. The key factor has been to shorten the length of matches and we have achieved that.

"His problem is that he has to play to maintain his physical tone and fitness levels. There's no other way to do it than by competing."

Who would you trust to tell the truth? the coach or the PR person?

At the moment, neither. Let's see how it pans out over the whole season. I think our most reliable answer can come from results on the court.

You don;t like taking risk, Gav do you? ;)

I would even add....let's wait till the end of his career....it is even safer!

Ok..... I'll put my neck on the line and take a risk and say....

Nadal will win the French again this year and do similarly well as last year. ;)

Nice one Gav B)

There has been more info added to the initial report from Piers Newbery on the BBC. It concerns quotes from Nadal himself.

Nadal told Spanish TV: "This injury hasn't stopped me competing at the top level for over two years."

He added: "The story that has come out is totally false."

I thought the story came from an interview of Nadal in El Pais (a quite respectable paper).

Now it may have been blown up but his results post Wimbledon (that is 5 months ago) have been in line with the first report.

Anyhow, I hope he gets a good rest this month. Knowing how precious it is to be fit, could make him even more dangerous on the court.

..Well his saving grace has been his ability to play so well on the clay courts. I mean..if he has been carrying this injury for so long... then the
aggressive play on hardcourts might have been excacerbating his injuries.....ahhhh....he is young....they should be able to work with him to sort this out or effectively adapt him to something....

Anyway.. it is a smart thing not to overplay these injuries as it may take the focus away from the solutions...some rest will do....hopefully he should have a better 2008 and I guess pace himself better.

Already these things seem like excuses for some ...should he have a less than stellar 2008 or get beaten by say Roger at the french... :)

I just hope nothing is wrong with the foot...
he complained about this a couple of years back and it seemed more serious then but has been doing pretty well the last two years with improved performances on grass.

I had to search a bit bit to get this thread out but though noone's mentioned it yet, I find Nadal's stamina or perseverence very worrying. Losing to Roddick today is a clear sign that there is something wrong, especially losing so easily in the second set when we actually were used to see Rafa being more and more dangerous as the matches went on. I said in another thread that I would not be surprised if Nadal dropped out of the top 5 and so far this year, he hasn't really proved he shoudl be there despite his semi in the AO. He has a lot to lose in IW and Miami (600pts) and should he carry his relative "slowness" on clay, I can see a dramatic season.


Now I am well aware that the same could be said of Federer! Clearly a potential change of guard coming soon!

I think we could be set for a very exciting clay court season. Watch out for Djoko.... he may well make some kind of move on clay if Rog or Rafa let things slip...

Yes, Djoko is certainly the form player and even last year his clay season was not bad for a 20yo.

Hi T,
I’ve seen the second set and i must say it all looked surrealistic to me. I’m not sure it was Rafa who made Roddick looking (very) good, possibly caused by playing at 80% of his abilities, or something else. But frankly I can’t come up with “something else” (apart from Roddick played up to his very best). I’ve seen plenty of rallies with rafa toeing the baseline, dictating the rally, while Roddick was doing a lot of retrieving 3 yards behind the baseline but still winning the point! Frequently done by an 1,2 combination; pacey crosscourt BH followed by an even more pacey crosscourt FH. A year or so ago it would have been pretty much the other way around. This all leads to that he’ll have to face a opponents on the other side of the net with a different mindset and that’s a big challenge, same goes for Roger BTW. Both men are no longer virtually a few games ahead as they step on court.

Anyway; If Djoko surpasses Rafa in the rankings –which is very likely- then it would become very difficult for him to ever get to the top spot and that would be very cruel, I’m sure this always was one of his main goals and he definitely deserves it.

Hi GP - I mentiioned this a few times that Nadal is good at making players look good. Even Murray can look agressive versus Rafa and that says quite a bit. I agree it would be sad to see Nadal slip down the ranking. As much as he frustrated me on many occasions including preventing Federer twice to hold the 4 slams at once, his matches always brought intensity and interest. Compared to other former number ones, he certainly would have deserved this title as well but was unfortunate to share this era with, in my view, the greatest player of all time. So this is Federer's revenge for not getting the Slams.

I feel that though the level of the top 2 is currently questionable, Djoko is certainly pushing the game up and I think he is certainly the most likely future number one, but some work needs to be done yet.

:yikes: :shrug:

I agree with this. But according to you I understand that you mean that he has still got to do a lot more to achieve the top spot Tenez? I mean right now Dijko is on a roll. Rafa if he continues to play this way will certainly lose valuable points come IW and Miami. Dijko shouldn't find it difficult to get past him .Of course clay is one season that is highly upredictable this year although I'll still go with Rafa.Djokovic is just doing superb. Tenez I would like you to highlight the areas where Djokovic can improve. IMO he's doing all things right(excepting for the eternal bouncing of the ball before serving :P ) it's roger's position at the top that's really bothering me.I don't really know how he's going to bounce back because he's never been in this situation before. However we can never ever doubt the great man. :bow: ... But the guy seriously needs more tough matches. Dijko surely seems to be the safest bet for the next no:1.Its just unfortunate that Rafa cannot get to the top for the kind of player he is but then to ascertain his position as the next no:1 he has to win a slam outside french which he has been unable to do whereas Dijko seems to be more of the allrounder. He certainly seems to be the best man to take over though roger is still the champ.

Hi Lalitha - You raised a very good question and this afternoon match versus Roddick best answers that question. I really thought Djoko would win and like you I could not really see an obvious weakness in Djoko's game. A bit like Serena, Sharpova and other powerful players, when they are playing at 100%, it does not really matter how much more talented and smart Justine Henin is, she simply can't cope with the power. Djoko in my view in the same basket as Serena or Sharapova. His shots are consistent, deep, pacey but not too pacey, and that from both wings. However, what I had already suspected is that like his female equivalent, he hasn't that extra touch and flair that suddenly can separate Federer from the rest. I would say that Federer raw skills like hand/eye coordination, anticipation are still above the rest out there. Federer would not have lost against Roddick. He only lost once, it was very close and if I remember Federer had won a string of matches/tournments and was probably a bit exhausted. In that respect I woudl still put my money on a confident Federer as he can cope with Djoko power and consistency but again any under par performance will be punished by Djoko's consistency. Also, on grass, I expect Federer to keep an edge as his raw skills I mentioned above are best expressed on this surface.
Finally, Djoko is only 20 I hear, so there is certainly more margin for improvement than Roger and that is a huge advantage as Roger developed his reflexes and game at a different time versus a different generation and I am sure that within a couple of years (3 max), Djoko, if he stays fit, shoudl overtake a slowing Federer more often than not.

I have noticed that many Federer fans don't like Nadal just because he prevented Roger Federer from winning RG twice. I think it's not fair :nope:

To me, Nadal is a very impressive player. He is only 21 (!) and he has already won 3 RG in a row beating quite easily Roger Federer in the two last finals. He also took part in the 2 last Wimbledon finals and only lost in 5 sets last year against Federer. This is truly impressive. Another thing that a few people know is that he is one a the few people to have a positive win/loss balance against Federer (in his carreer he won Fed 8 times but only lost 6 times).

So his Rank 2 is somewhat deserved. You said it's a pity Federer shared the same era as Rafael Nadal, and I agree with you !!! hehe :D because if it wasn't the case Nadal would've been number one for 3 years (he has been number 2 for 135 weeks, which is the all time record).

On the other hand, it is true that Nadal spends a lot of energy because of his "fighting style" on the court. Many commentators predict that he may not last long because of tiredness, injuries, etc. But so far he is proving the contrary. He is only 21 and his game is getting always better in Grand Slams. In the Australian Open, he got the best performance of his carreer this year by reaching the semi-finals. And in Dubai he achieved the same result of last year by reaching the QF, losing against an impressive Roddick, who afterwards beat Novak Djokovic.

So it's not so surprising that he is dangerously approaching Roger's number 1 position. I hope he'll succeed but it won't be easy as he has many points to defend on clay.

PS : I am a fan of Nadal in case you didn't notice it :D2:

Nice post tenez....while watching lopez vs roddick last night on so many occasions when Roddick won certain points,I felt that "u know Roger could have pulled that one off" Lopez played a great tie break in the first set but could have done better in the second set especially double faulting to give roddick the break federer is just special. He's just a genius..he anticipates the ball just so well and as I have repeatedly pointed out the last set against nadal in the Wimbey final last year is just the best example of his greatness. Down break points twice in the set he serves just wonderfully(remember that serve was never his big weapon early on in his career) and bails himself out of trouble. Djokovic shows similar mental toughness at crucial points but it takes a lot more to produce something like Federer. On these occasions I just feel that Nadal has been an outstanding opponent the last few years for Federer(although I agree with frederic that it shouldn't be the reason for Fed fans to be upset with rafa). Many may argue that Fed never had the best opponents and may be they are right . But now there are more opponents especially in the form of Djokovic and others who now believe that they can beat the great man. as you rightly point out, Djokovic is still very young and has a great potential to win many more majors(including french :hmm: )