Beyond The Call Of Duty

It was Nadals least favourite surface in a tounament that he has admitted is not a high priority. He was fresh but maybe a little rusty after a long break. No slow starts allowed with only the top eight as opponants (unless you get lucky like Berdych and Djokovic).

But then Nadal gets ill. Nothing that would be a worry for his long term health just something that would be very difficult to play through. He had to leave the court to throw up during his first match but continued to play and amazingly managed to get a win. The next day he was unable to practise. On the day of his second match apparently he contemplated pulling out as he was still unable to practise properly. It was only his duty to the tourament that prevented him doing so. Murray had just withdrawn and his next match was highly anticipated and a sell out.

Did he go beyond the call of duty? I would say no. Nadal may not have been able to play his best but he didn't aggrivate an injury. He did what a top player should do. He has made a lot of fans happy because they got to see him and not a substitute. He has also made a lot of detractors happy because they could see him lose and even better spend ages talking about his one dimensional play. Best of all he has made Federer happy as he got to bagel him...

He did after all get paid a lot of money to do this.

Are you his mother?

Congratulations to Rafa, and on being the fitter player at the end of a long match with Tsonga yesterday.

His powers of recovery are truly miraculous!

Nadal has stated that he was 'perfect' physically in his match against Federer.

emancipator wrote:Nadal has stated that he was 'perfect' physically in his match against Federer.

no,no,no,no, noooooo...that was BEFORE the match...he mentioned the shoulder niggles at the press conference.

No he mentioned in the post Federer match press conference that his shoulder was hurting after the first match and thus he couldn't practice the next day. However he said that he felt perfect during his match against Fed.

Wait, but didn't he have a cold and food poisoning as well?

Brave little soldier...

I think the food poisoning is what HE is referring to here. The word from the camp is that Rafa was going to pull out on Tuesday, but on hearing of Murray pulling out felt he should carry on. Nothing wrong with the decision, as food poisoning doesn't carry any long-term risks, but nonetheless a nice gesture and a gutsy effort in the circumstances .

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I think the food poisoning is what HE is referring to here. The word from the camp is that Rafa was going to pull out on Tuesday, but on hearing of Murray pulling out felt he should carry on. Nothing wrong with the decision, as food poisoning doesn't carry any long-term risks, but nonetheless a nice gesture and a gutsy effort in the circumstances .

Good on him for not pulling out.

well played Nadal

He is such a little trooper isn't he - and never a peep about what it costs him!

Surprised no one here has made a reference to the video game...

What video game?