Australian Open: Rafa Nadal Injured Again; What Now?

Has Rafa Nadal, at age 23, peaked? SB Nation’s Daily Forehand thinks that may be the case:

↵↵With the loss, Nadal is now 1-11 in his last twelve matches against top ten opponents. That kind of record isn’t going to keep him in the top five very much longer, much less the top two. He simply doesn’t have the flat, first-strike weapons that he needs to keep his legs healthy. Nadal wouldn’t have won the match even if he hadn’t aggravated his knee, but since he did this loss will almost certainly be pointed to for at least the next several months as proof that Nadal may never hoist another grand slam trophy again.

↵↵The world’s No. 2 was forced to retire early this morning from his quarterfinal match against Andy Murray with a knee injury. Nadal missed several months of action last season, including Wimbledon, with knee problems.

↵But maybe this injury isn’t as serious as last year’s. After the match, Nadal said he knew he wasn’t going to beat Murray (he was down two sets, and 3-0 in the third), so he opted not to push the knee any further and risk serious injury:

↵↵“So was impossible to win the match. When I have the chance to play (previously) I never retired. Anyway, like I know I (was) going to lose like I did in Rotterdam like last year. I say sorry to Andy for that,” he said.

↵“So I don’t know if I still playing (that my knee) can go worse or something. So I said, well, no repeat the same mistake like I had last year. I go to the limit, but not cross the limit, no?”

↵↵We’ll soon see how many tournaments he’ll be able to play leading up to the French Open in May, a tournament he didn’t lose for four straight years before being hobbled by bummed knees and falling in the fourth round to Robin Soderling last year. Regardless, the trend here doesn’t lead to much optimism for Nadal’s future as a top two player. His grinding, defensive style of play and large frame are going to continue to cause knee problems. His only option may be to alter his game and develop more powerful ground strokes in order to end rallies earlier.