Comments | jaekayelle: Rafa pulls out of Australian Open

jaekayelle

Rafa pulls out of Australian Open

Dec 28, 2012 17:43

I'm surprised by this news and yet not. There's more going on here than his knees and a stomach virus. My theory is that his confidence was badly shaken by the second round loss to Rosol at Wimbledon. If he and his team had announced that he's just not match-ready there's plenty of time to play and get ready. He could have played in Abu Dhabi this ( Read more... )

australian open 2013, rafa nadal

Comments 4

ladyinpink602 December 30 2012, 20:23:40 UTC

You have put into words exactly how I feel about this. There is definitely more going on behind the scenes. All this, yes I'll play and then no I won't is very upsetting to the fans. Why can't Rafa and his team be honest about things? As it is, people feel let down. Like you, I think there's a mental issue here and that Rafa's confidence took a big knock at Wimbledon. I'm now starting to wonder if we'll ever see him on tour again. It's all very sad and so disappointing.

Do you know if Roger has commented on Rafa's withdrawal? I read something that Novak had said but I've not seen anything from Roger.

jaekayelle December 30 2012, 22:37:50 UTC

I'm worried, too, that he may end up retiring. Is he hurt? Is he tired of tennis? How much has his family pushed him over the years to play and did he want to? I keep thinking about how Andre Agassi's father shoved him into the sport and how Andre hated it for years, but Rafa always came out fighting so I think maybe that's not the case here. Is his knee actually better, as he says, and he's just being careful ( ... )

ladyinpink602 December 31 2012, 20:07:22 UTC

You know I've wondered too if it was Rafa's family that pushed him into tennis - I've always thought there was something slightly unhealthy about Uncle Toni's role. I never sensed tennis is the love of Rafa's life like it is Roger's.

Let's hope your Vamos Rafa shirt will do the trick and get Rafa back on tour. Tennis isn't the same without him. :(

Happy New Year by the way!

jaekayelle December 31 2012, 22:34:32 UTC

I haven't thought much about how much the family influences Rafa in tennis, but thinking about it now I tend to agree with your comparison with Roger's passion for the sport. It's almost like Rafa has been programmed to go out there and winwinwin! I'm probably way off base. I just hope he's happy and gets to do what he wants to do. (And come back to the tour.)

Happy New Year to you, too!