A Rafa-less Tour

Nadal training in Manacor (cr : mathilde)

Rafael Nadal went from entering the legend at the French Open to being forced out for months. Once again, he has only his knees to thank for this. No more tendinitis, welcome Hoffitis. At some point I can picture him looking at the doc and say "Are you kidding me ?". Why finding a way to heal his tendinitis if some months after his body finds an other way to tease his career ? Yeah, yeah we all know the debate : his demanding style of game, the ATP schedule, the surfaces. Ok, ok. Still. What are people asking him ? To stop being Nadal ? "Hey Rafa you know what : just serve and volley this whole stuff, cut your schedule in half because really who needs clay season / points for ranking / sponsors / fans / fun.... And please stop defending that well, you're killing yourself. Just forget everything about your game, forget everything about how you like to compete and it will be just fine." Yeah right.... This is the style that turned him into an icon and a legend, this is the style that brought him trophies and that will win him some more. You can of course adjust Rafa, but you won't and shouldn't change Rafa. So let's stop the "this guy is soooo over and it is soooo his fault" debate : it's both pointless and unfair. As is the "but Roger Federer never gets injured, whereas Rafa...". Great for The Fed, too bad for Nadal, so what ? Apples and oranges. As far as I know other players were injured with a different style of game than Rafa. Also, Federer is an outstanding exception in the history of champs injuries and all of this is only relevant to those who have only one aim in tennis : comparing Nadal and Federer, aka the Goat debate, aka let's fight a little bit, aka let's the fandoms erupt. But that makes some people feel good to see how their swiss champ is a rock whereas the spanish champ is fragile, so whatever.

Back to the main fact : Nadal is out since Wimbledon and may or may not be back for end of season. Consequence ? We're in a Rafa-less Tour and it is no fun. We depend on this Big 4 to make the whole thing alive and we depend on Nadal to put rivalries through the roof. He's in the middle of ones of the best ever : against Roger Federer and against Novak Djokovic. And unless the Fed and the Djoker start now an "all claws out" battle for what's left of big titles and for the n°1 throne - which would be AMAZING-, this is all going to be kinda dull. No Vamos, no fist pumping, no bouncing, no obsession for bottles placement, no big smiles and spanish accent all over the place : seriously, who wants this ?! Those enjoying this bye bye Nadal thing are the same who were delighted to see the Williamses out. And then they all came whining about the lack of interest / stars of the Tour. As for Venus and Serena, you'll see those people jumping at Nadal's neck when he'll be back.

Nadal training in Manacor (cr : Mathilde)

Because El Rafa will be back. After all he brought to the game on and off court, the last thing we're allowed to is to write him off. He came back from the foot injury, he came back from the 2009 knee and personal nightmare. How can people forget the 2010 "Look who's the boss" year ? We can have our doubts about his longevity, we can wonder how his body could cope with 5 or so more years at this level. But we can't deny him to still believe. The new injury is said to not be career threatening so let's take it this way and stop trying to guess future. Last time some tried they said : Djokovic will remain the Mighty Gifted Loser, Serena and Venus are done, Murray won't ever win a big title and Federer is so over. At some point all of this looked kind of logical but there's one thing you can't predict : The Champ Will Power. Rafael Nadal is the GOAT of Will Power so there is no doubt he'll be back biting on some trophy very soon. That's the optimistic way of thinking and it is seriously way better than to picture a "Rafa-less for ever" Tour. Ask tournaments directors, sponsors, fans and even rivals : this is the last thing they want to see. Waiting the Mighty Lefty to come back, it's up to the others to take charge next to The Duet Of Awseome that is "Fedokovic". I see you Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ! I try to see you Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer. One of the Avengers is on a break. TIME TO SUIT UP !

PS : a huge thank you to Mathilde for the Manacor pictures and the bits of news ;)