It’s no secret that the Rafael Nadal of late has been a man plagued by injuries. His 2012 season was cut short due to knee tendinitis, and while he came back for a strong 2013 and had a great start to this 2014 tennis season, problems have again curtailed the career of this superstar.
It’s been a tough few months for Nadal – (Photo: vamos_rafaelnadal_, IG)
He played brilliantly this spring, even winning his usual Grand Slam French Open title, but in the summer things fell apart once again. Wimbledon has become a tough place for Nadal, and he suffered another rather premature exit in the 4th round. Then a wrist injury in July forced him to miss the entire American slate of tournaments, including the US Open.
Since returning, the Spaniard’s play has been far from his best, and he is even now dealing with a bout of appendicitis! He has avoided immediate surgery by following an antibiotic regimen, though certainly that does bear to question what level he is currently playing at. Despite the challenge, he is through to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors tournament, which must be seen as quite the feat!
Nadal is certainly displaying a fighter’s spirit and grit – (Photo Credit: nuno_nam1, IG)
But the main question on many people’s minds will be what state he’ll be in for the next Grand Slam event, the Australian Open. Certainly, it appears that he may need a bit of a break here, but he seems gung-ho about competing every chance he gets. The rough summer has him determined to return to the sport but who knows what risks he currently bears by playing with diagnosed appendicitis.
Needless to say, this is a tricky time in the career of Rafael Nadal. He is an elite tennis star, but his injuries are starting to mount up at age 28, and they are beginning to withhold him from a number of tournaments, now likely to include the ATP World Tour Finals. While this was predicted by many years ago given his physically demanding style of play, we definitely hope that Rafa will be ready when the Australian Open returns early next year! Fortunately, appendicitis is a mostly routine condition so let’s hope that Rafael Nadal can make a full recovery and be at the top of his game in time for 2015. Want to see Nadal at the Australian Open next year? Click here for tickets!
Nicholas Spiller
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