Nadal was training and hitting balls on the court again. He hopes to be ready for the Aussie Open! I hope he's full strength and can stay healthy for a while. It's doubtful he can stay healthy tho. His style of play isn't good for his body and all the problems he has already had.
He needs to keep getting smarter with scheduling tournaments. Honestly if I were him at this stage, I'd play Slams and Masters and very little else. I would also skip any Davis Cup match that looks winnable with the "B" team.
Doesn't he basically only play the slams and masters tourneys? I'm sure plays a little more on the clay since it's his best. He's gotta play 1 tourney when switching surfaces I think. Agree with ya on the Davis Cup.
He's getting pretty close to that now. I think at the end of the day, he simply has to ask himself what is important ... ranking or winning big tournaments? If he's honest with himself, I think he probably knows that with his health concerns and the relative better physicality of Djokovic and Murray to hold up for most of a long season - he's probably not going to be #1 again without injuries to them or paying a steep price for overplaying tournaments.
I really think he should be on the Serena schedule where he doesn't even play all the Masters events. He's been smart about resting after Australia until Indian Wells in March. Personally, I think if he wants longevity - he needs to choose Indian Wells or Miami and not play both. Playing one gives you additional rest before the clay season begins. I think the tough part about the clay season is the Barcelona tournament which isn't a Masters event, but I think he feels obligated to play it being in Spain when he's "healthy." If he's wise again, he plays Monte Carlo, Madrid & Rome only leading to the French.
I also think he has to start looking at the period in between Roland Garros & Wimbledon and ask himself if rest is better of trying to play Queen's Club or Halle. Those tournaments don't predicate success at Wimbledon and he might be wiser to skip them and simply rest and then use the rest of the time to train @ Wimbledon. All the greats have to at one time or another acknowledge the toll that a season takes on them and become as smart as possible with scheduling. Federer started doing it even more in 2012 with age. Serena has been doing it for years on the women's tour. Unless the ATP ever figures out a better scheduling process, I think it will eventually become the norm for some of the top players to skip bigger tournaments.
There are several months where they could easily condense the schedule with doing away with some surface switches. Having basically two indoor seasons - one in February and one after the US open makes no sense. They should kill a tournament or two and play them all after the US Open in my opinion. I know weather is potentially an issue in February for outdoor tournaments, but it seems odd to have players transition from outdoor to indoor and back to outdoor for the Masters events in March.
I don't see too much of a problem with him playing both Indian Wells and Miami. For the top players it's really only a week long tourney for the top players with the byes they get. If he can't take time off from Aussie Open until Indian Wells and then play Miami as well, then his body is truly fukked. Then he can take time off until Monte Carlo. Isn't Madrid the tourney that uses blue clay? I believe he told them that if they use blue clay again, he's not playing there again. Rome could be tricky on whether or not to play there because he has a pretty good history there. He and Fed had some good battles. He could definitely skip it. After Roland Garros he should definitely skip everything until Wimbledon. It's after Wimbledon that he needs to take a light schedule. Its the 2nd half of the season and it's all hard courts which is hardest on his body. Play Cincy and the U.S. Open maybe. Doesn't really need the Canadian tourneys. After the U.S. Open just don't even play until Beijing or Shanghai.
He seems to be really warning about getting any sort of expectations up." I don't expect to return and win the Australian Open," Nadal said."I want to be 100 percent fit in time for the Monte Carlo Masters and the run-up to the French Open."
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Nadal training ont the court again
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