More excuses from Nadal...when will it stop?

"I probably had a bit less passion for the game because I was more tired than usual," said the world number two.

"This was a tough year but I'll do all to be perfect for the start of 2012."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/15885323.stm
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He annoys me no end nowadays. "more tired than usual"???? No you have been tired every single year of your professional career at that time of the year. And you are right in saying that you will be in "perfect conditions" in 2012 cause every year at around spring time, you certainly are in perfect conditons. Everybody knows that.

Fatigue after a 2 months rest? Who are you kidding?

"The only way to change the situation is to work more, think more about tennis, do everything in the right shape, do everything good inside the court, everything good outside the court," he added.

"I have to work hard - working hard every day, morning, afternoon - if I'm going to have my chance to be competitive to win the big tournaments.

"My goal is there. My motivation, I hope, the same. I will do it."

And of course, you are now tired, but by working very hard, every day, before next season, you will be fit and fresh for a new one?

Nadal,about time you make sense and get coherent for once.

Tenez, I am not a Nadal fan but give the guy a break! Fatigue doesn't only have physical causes. He has had a rough and stressful year (especially at the hands of Djokovic) so it is unsurprising if he is mentally tired. He seems to be saying that he needs to go back to basics and regroup for next year. Seems fair enough to me.

I must agree with carrieg4 there. My own slant however is the similarity with what Murray says when blown off the court. There is the same theme of becoming more fit. This has been emphasised by Tenez very succintly. Maybe that is the sort of mental coaching that is imparted nowadays. Rather than showing one's non physical vulnerability, tell the world that it is the body that is not good. What with physicality on parade starting with Gok's shows.

I agree with Tenez over the first quote - saying that he's more tired than usual does seem to be just another boring old Nadal excuse. I mean, he's just had six weeks off! Six weeks off, then he's only had to play 3 3 set matches over the space of 5 days, one of which only last an hour; hardly an especially gruelling schedule! How much time does this guy need off?! He should try doing a 9-5 day job; he'd probably collapse from exhaustion by lunch time on the first day.

He's been suffering from food poisoning all week apparently, and was going to pull out on Tuesday, but when Murray pulled out he felt he should try to carry on. Might be why he was feeling a bit tired?

So he has that stomach bug every year end?

Shall we call year end "The rendez-vous with the stomach bug"? or is it the pulled abdominal muscle or the shoulder injury?

I never liked his style on court but for me it's spreading off court now that he keeps losing. This other thread about the "preserved ranking" is just another trait of this player trying to make the most of what he achieved while he was physically ahead of the rest.

I do not see much good coming from him...on and off the court

Tenez wrote:He annoys me no end nowadays.

Really? We'd have never guessed...

I thought that when he mentioned losing 'passion for the game' he was referring to the period following the US Open, not this week in particular. And by 'tired' he could easily have meant mentally battered as much as physically worn out.
He did say he could speak for an hour on what the problems were, but didn't elaborate.

Still, we can still enjoy all the other players, because none of them ever makes an excuse for losing.

JuliusHMarx wrote:Still, we can still enjoy all the other players, because none of them ever makes an excuse for losing.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Still, we can still enjoy all the other players, because none of them ever makes an excuse for losing.

"never" and "always"....can you spot the difference?

where on earth did I say he has the stomach bug every year? Merely pointing out that the "more tired than usual" may have been a consequence of that... or don't you ever get tired when you catch a stomach bug? Especially if you have to go out and play a couple of hours tennis.

And by 'tired' he could easily have meant mentally battered as much as physically worn out.

Oh please. So he lost a few matches this year against the same player. He still gets paid obscene amounts of money to play a sport he loves playing, and wins the majority of the matches he competes in. I have very little sympathy for the man.

Chazfazzer wrote:

And by 'tired' he could easily have meant mentally battered as much as physically worn out.

Oh please. So he lost a few matches this year against the same player. He still gets paid obscene amounts of money to play a sport he loves playing, and wins the majority of the matches he competes in. I have very little sympathy for the man.

Is how much he gets paid really relevant?? It has nothing to do with being mentally exhausted.

Tenez wrote:So he has that stomach bug every year end?

Shall we call year end "The rendez-vous with the stomach bug"? or is it the pulled abdominal muscle or the shoulder injury?

I never liked his style on court but for me it's spreading off court now that he keeps losing. This other thread about the "preserved ranking" is just another trait of this player trying to make the most of what he achieved while he was physically ahead of the rest.

I do not see much good coming from him...on and off the court

Tenez

Do you mean you once did see good coming from him? I am shocked. Was it a very very small amount of good a long long time ago?

What's the deal of playing 79 matches a year? It's roughly one match every 5 days?

After 12 years on the tour, sure I can understand. But he has been tired every year at that time of the year as soon as he arrived on the world stage in 2005.

I do not believe one second he is tired or injured. Never quite did but now less than ever.

but you keep telling us that Nadal's game is based solely on physically outlasting his opponent. Surely that would tire him more than others, and certainly more than Federer?

Anyway, like I said, he had food-poisoning and was going to pull out on Tuesday, until Murray did (and then he felt he couldn't). He basically wasn't able to practice all week. Could explain the below-par performance...

hawkeye wrote:Tenez

Do you mean you once did see good coming from him? I am shocked. Was it a very very small amount of good a long long time ago?

Yes. At the beginning, gave it credit as you may read in my very early posts in 606...but the more you know his ways, the harder it gets to like him.

That new ranking system he supports is very much in line with the man. It's all about him!

Tenez wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Still, we can still enjoy all the other players, because none of them ever makes an excuse for losing.

"never" and "always"....can you spot the difference?

Of course, can you?

Mad for Chelsea wrote:but you keep telling us that Nadal's game is based solely on physically outlasting his opponent. Surely that would tire him more than others, and certainly more than Federer?

So now you understand what I was talking about?

It's easy, if you are tired because your style is tiring, you simply lose by trying a bit less harder. I am sure Federer coudl have tried harder in some of his matches but plays in a way that doesn't kill him after every single match. He accepts losing and moves on. It's not about style as much as it is the energy and effort you put on every point. Tipsy tried very hard on his last MP v Berdych. It resulted in injury but it was on the very last point and to save a match. It's nadal's problem to choose to play like that on every single point.

And yes Nadal's game is based on his physique. The problem is that he is not in control of his form. He clearly cannot manage it like most other players do.

Chazfazzer wrote:

And by 'tired' he could easily have meant mentally battered as much as physically worn out.

Oh please. So he lost a few matches this year against the same player. He still gets paid obscene amounts of money to play a sport he loves playing, and wins the majority of the matches he competes in. I have very little sympathy for the man.

Me neither - I didn't mean it to come across as having sympathy for him.
It's just odd that some players get praised for saying "I wasn't at 100%" (he's really honest) and others get criticised for saying the same thing (he's always making excuses).
Actually, it's not odd at all.

I have never been a Nadal fan, and being a Nole as opposed to Federer fan have probably followed Nadal less closely.
One of the things that has always struck me as odd even with my minimalist Nadal awareness was this "humble" image.
I could never get it and still don't get it.
Talk before and after the matches at press conferences is just a smokescreen, I tend to look at a player on the court and draw almost all my conclusions about them there.
I have always seen Nadal as very vain and thin-skinned, disrespectful (time-wasting at the net) and intimidating (jumping in your face at the net).
He even managed to moan about Nole's team celebrating after Nole historic first win over Nadal on clay in Madrid. Vajda was sat on top of the car celebrating in the style of a football fan, so what!!!Hat of to the guy for achieving what he did, how did he offend anyone being happy and singing? It's not everyone's cup of tea to wear this thin veneer of "civility" and "humble talk" facade.
That is why Nole is probably not liked en masse, but since when did masses have taste, anyway..

But during the 606 days there was this very thin-skinned militant women brigade that drowned anything you had to say on the topic.

Anyway, back to the topic, as a result of this vanity, now that he has been overtaken and outplayed, he just can't man up and get on with it, he has to excuse himself and push for a tow year ranking so he doesn't have to.

Personally I think media are to blame more than Nadal as they keep on bludgeoning players with same questions every day every week every year...

...so what we essentially have is another Nadal-bashing thread...great.

noleisthebest wrote:Personally I think media are to blame more than Nadal as they keep on bludgeoning players with same questions every day every week every year...

Very true NITB

I am intrigued by a tow year ranking though............the mind boggles

As for the rest of it, I prefer to look at a players conduct as a whole. Many of them are very different on and off court.

carrieg4 wrote:As for the rest of it, I prefer to look at a players conduct as a whole. Many of them are very different on and off court.

Actually not. What you see on court is very much what they are. Especially under the heaviest pressure.

We will have to agree to disagree on that one Tenez.

His words are the only indicators of what he felt. It is for others to put the pieces together as per their perception. Federer has successfully warded off burn out. He is sometimes accused of belittling opponents' wins. Djokovic has retired so often in the previous years that one tends to see his current year retirements as a repeat performance. Perhaps every player has to protect his inner self valuation, though some do it in a self defeating way. One has to remember that they are less than 30 years old and if one were to be diplomatic or guarded, tennis fans might feel cheated. If Nadal is getting defeated repeatedly, he may have already reached zenith in 2010. And if so, there is only one direction to go. Water finds its level soon.

He's just annoyed the PRP treatments aren't working this year...

did you forget your log in details reckoner? (for your original account)
I can reset the password and e-mail it to you?

Yes please, that would be very kind! Thanks Y I !

OK, i'll e-mail the password to you in a sec, and then ditch your 2nd account.

Hello Reckoner, good to see you back.

Take it easy on him Y I man. I still remember how brutally you deleted his first ever posts on the board.

password done, and e-mail sent. Post from your original account so I know its all sorted.

sorted!

meh I had been to the pub, YI was quite right to delete my over refreshed ramblings!

Cheers

Eskay wrote:His words are the only indicators of what he felt. It is for others to put the pieces together as per their perception. Federer has successfully warded off burn out. He is sometimes accused of belittling opponents' wins. Djokovic has retired so often in the previous years that one tends to see his current year retirements as a repeat performance. Perhaps every player has to protect his inner self valuation, though some do it in a self defeating way. One has to remember that they are less than 30 years old and if one were to be diplomatic or guarded, tennis fans might feel cheated. If Nadal is getting defeated repeatedly, he may have already reached zenith in 2010. And if so, there is only one direction to go. Water finds its level soon.

You're right...they all have their defence mechanisms.
Nadal probably has most pent-up frustrations as his set-up seems to be quite suffocating: Uncle Toni, Royal family, The Son of Spain.
I bet he's privately sick and tired of it all.

There's a blog that casts a scathing eye on Nadal's endlessly repeated cycle of injury followed by amazing performance.

NB TUE here is therapeutic use exemption.

"
2011 is shaping up to be even more farcical for Nadal. His performance in the lead up to the Australian Open was hampered by what he described as a “flu”, although without any of the usual symptoms (cough, congestion, fever, sore throat muscle aches, etc.) other than fatigue during matches which might make one wonder whether he was actually lacking some stamina enhancing supplements.
Although he won his early matches in the Australian Open, his performance seemed a bit flat, which he attributed to the lingering “flu.” In his quarterfinal match with countryman David Ferrer, we got to see another example of his courageous, Stefan-Edberg-like sportsmanship as he struggled with an apparent hamstring injury, grimacing in pain as he extended his leg and taking trips to the locker room to wrap his left hamstring, while losing in straight sets.

Inexplicably, we are later informed that an exceptionally precise MRI performed by his personal physician indicated an adductor longus “rupture” of his right leg. This, of course, is perplexing, since it was his left hamstring that was apparently injured and this is a right groin muscle. We are also told that they expected this “rupture,” supposedly visible on an MRI, will be fully healed in an astonishing 10 days. What makes this more interesting is the fact that intramuscular injections for muscle tears have just this year no longer required a TUE. Anyone that doubted Nadal's incredible capacity for healing from injuries, take note that Nadal was cured in only 8 days from his "rupture," although it again became a hamstring injury, and he resumed training.
"

reckoner wrote:There's a blog that casts a scathing eye on Nadal's endlessly repeated cycle of injury followed by amazing performance.

Is it Noah's blog?

No not Noah's it is far more seditious than that!

Tenez wrote:

"I probably had a bit less passion for the game because I was more tired than usual," said the world number two.

"This was a tough year but I'll do all to be perfect for the start of 2012."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/15885323.stm
-----------------------------------------------------------

He annoys me no end nowadays. "more tired than usual"???? No you have been tired every single year of your professional career at that time of the year. And you are right in saying that you will be in "perfect conditions" in 2012 cause every year at around spring time, you certainly are in perfect conditons. Everybody knows that.

Fatigue after a 2 months rest? Who are you kidding?

"The only way to change the situation is to work more, think more about tennis, do everything in the right shape, do everything good inside the court, everything good outside the court," he added.

"I have to work hard - working hard every day, morning, afternoon - if I'm going to have my chance to be competitive to win the big tournaments.

"My goal is there. My motivation, I hope, the same. I will do it."

And of course, you are now tired, but by working very hard, every day, before next season, you will be fit and fresh for a new one?

Nadal,about time you make sense and get coherent for once.

Another not a nadal bashing thread

lydian wrote:

Tenez wrote:He annoys me no end nowadays.

Really? We'd have never guessed...

erm irony?

I did see Nadal on court practicing just over an hour before the match, whether that had anything to do with his form or lack of is another thing though.

Rafa has been worn out at season's end for practically every season, although he put on a good show at the O2 in 2010 before the exhausting, and terrific, three-set final with Murray took its toll in the final against Fed.
Rafa, it seems, just cannot pace himself, even when he has a few weeks off. He rarely wins, or loses, matches quickly (although the Fed match this week was ultra short). He fights for every point and gives 100%. Result? Burn out.
I also think his stamina-sapping matches against Djoko this year have really done him in (and also done Nole in !). Remember their four-hour struggle on clay in 09 ? Rafa was not fit for the French and had to pull out of Wimbledon. Trouble is, I can't see him changing his style of play. So we're likely to see this late-season malaise over the coming years.