Rafael Nadal's Knee Problems a Thing of the Past?

Following the French Open last year, the tennis world was shocked to hear that Rafael Nadal would be away from competitive tennis for a period of over two months. A period that would see him unable to defend his hard-earned Wimbledon title and eventually losing his No. 1 ranking, which he had so deservedly attained.

The culprit?

Knee tendinitis.

When he finally made the first of his long awaited returns at the 2009 Roger's Cup, it was clear that he was not the same player the tour had come to fear. Sure, he lacked some confidence, but more importantly he wasn't moving like his old self and it seemed he was missing his patented never-say-die attitude.

Somewhat surprisingly, he refused to let the lack of success and his apparently still bothersome knees deter him from finishing the remainder of the season.

Come this year's Australian Open, all eyes were on the Spaniard. After the much deserved break he was back under the microscope. Every round he advanced seemed to solidify his healthy return to the game.

Then, in the quarterfinals, disaster struck. After playing two extremely high level, physical sets against Andy Murray, Nadal made the difficult decision to retire due to pain in his knees. Yet another title forced out of his grips by the chronic sports injury.

Despite the withdrawal, Nadal seemed more optimistic than after his first long-term absence. He assured the tennis world that he would be back in time for the year’s first Masters 1000 title in Indian Well, and he did not disappoint. He played a very high level tournament, losing to eventual champion Ivan Ljubicic, who in total would be responsible for the exits of three top-10 seeds.

More importantly, he showed no signs of discomfort throughout any of his matches while maintaining the sort of level of tennis that saw him challenge for the No. 1 ranking over a year ago.

The same could be said for Masters 1000 Miami. By the fourth round Nadal was the last remaining top-four seed in the tournament, and in the quarters he continued his rampage by dismissing a very in-form Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He then went on to face Andy Roddick in the semis.

In their last three meetings, all on different surfaces, Nadal had not given up a single set against the American, and after the first set it seemed the trend would continue. Roddick, however, appeared to change his game plan in the second as he began to hit bigger and take more risk. The risks paid off big time, and Roddick eventually went on to win the match, seemingly surprising Nadal with his sudden offensive play.

It was generally accepted that Roddick simply played too well and Nadal could not have done much more at that point. While Roddick did play very well beginning in the second set, Nadal did not seem quite himself in the latter stages of the match. On a couple occasions he simply gave up on shots that one would expect him to run down.

He also sprayed a few forehands, making it look like he was rushing, desperate to keep the points short. This was not the new, more selective and aggressive Nadal that we had seen throughout the rest of the tournament; this was a Nadal who had something else on his mind.

Many who watched his match against Roddick may not have noticed odd behaviour from Nadal during a change-over midway through the third set.

For those interested, here it is.

While sitting down, a very frustrated Nadal could be seen yelling at his corner and pounding angrily on his left knee.

Never had he shown this level of frustration over a physical ailment in the past. On previous occasions, Nadal would opt for injury time outs, requesting the trainer maintaining a cool, calm demeanour. This time it looked as if his worst fear, something he thought he had seen the last of, was showing its ugly face once again.

So could it be that the sceptics were right all along? Has Nadal indeed burnt out?

For the sake of the sport, let's hope not.