The extended injury absence of Rafael Nadal is disturbing to Roger Federer, who is concerned about the state of his longtime rival who has not hit a ball in anger since late June. “I was going to write him and check on him, because I can’t believe he’s been out that long,” Federer said of the former No. 1, whose last match before more knee problems set in was a Wimbledon second-round shock exit against Czech Lukas Rosol on June 28.
Since then, the third-ranked king of clay has tried to heal chronic tendinitis in his knees, which threaten to rule out his entire summer hard-court campaign including the US Open. Some reports in Spain have indicated that Nadal is now worried about being fit for the last major, which starts in just under a fortnight.
Nadal withdrew from the London Olympics and then pulled out of both of this month’s Masters 1000 tuneups for the US Open by missing the Toronto and Cincinnati events.
“I thought the Olympics, okay, that’s fine. That’s a personal choice,” said Federer, the Olympic silver medallist. “I thought for sure we would see him in Toronto , but now he missed Toronto and Cincinnati . It’s very surprising, because it was nothing that we heard of prior to the injury. He played so well on clay, and then actually seemed finout e at Wimbledon . He had more (recovery) time by losing earlier at Wimbledon .”
Federer called it a “big surprise, these two pullouts. I’m sad for him. I hope he’ll be back for the Open.”
©Daily Tennis News Wire
Topics: American tennis news, London Olympics, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Spanish tennis news, Sports, Tennis News, US Open 2012