July 29th, 2009

Lorenzo Mila and Rosana Romero from TVE (the leading news channel in Spain) interviewed Rafa Nadal yesterday at his summer house in Porto Cristo.

During the show, Rafa spoke about his days away from the tennis courts, about his recovery, his return to the tennis circuit, but most importantly, how he is...

So how is Rafa Nadal?

“Good, the truth is that I feel good. But also, I have to wait and see how I continue to recover because I’ve only been back training for a week and a half and you always feel a bit better anemically. You start with lots of hope, but again, the real test would be to see how I go when I really push my knees and I think that is likely to happen in the upcoming days. So I hope it’s all good,” said Rafa.

What happened?

“What happened was that I was in a lot of pain for a while, when I came back from Miami and I was training in Manacor, I started to feel a strong pain, especially in my right knee. It was a different kind of pain [to what I’ve experienced before], so I took off the bandages in my knees,” he explained…”and everyone thought that it was because I felt great, but the problem was that it didn’t hurt there anymore, now it hurt in the superior end of the knee cap. And well, the bandages weren’t helping me at all and that’s when it all started to get worse, little by little.”

Video: Courtesy of TVE.

PART 1: (Below)

PART 2

Click in the header to read the full report!

Rafa said that he should have rested after Rome to play at his best in Roland Garros, but he wanted to play the Masters Series Tournament in Madrid, which turned out to be a big mistake. At the same time, he admitted that he had “been playing almost every day with an anti-inflammatory and I had too much pain to play well at both tournaments that were important for me, Roland Garros and Wimbledon."

"I decided it was best to stop and recover," because "you lose the drive to go back to train and compete, because you are not with the same energy, little by little it destroys you," he explained.

According to Rafa, it is "knowing how to overcome difficult situations or face them with a positive mindset and learn to enjoy suffering," that has kept him going. "It is a virtue that I’ve always had, I like to suffer, I have learned to enjoy suffering and I believe that is what helps me."

At the same time, the support and love he has received from his fans and family has been the one highlight out of this painful experience. “Without doubt, the best memory in the last two months has been the support I have received from everyone. From my website, where they’ve sent me tons of messages. I have nothing but gratitude for their gesture”.  

So what has Rafa been doing in the last two months?

"I have spent more hours on the couch these past two months than in the past four years", he confessed.

This time away from competition has also allowed Rafa to follow other aspects of the sport today, politically and economically, "I've been able to follow many things, to see how colleagues have won some very important things, such as Contador at the Tour of France, or Pau Gasol in the NBA when he won 'the ring'. Of course I'm interested in the [economic] crisis and also in politics, but I never like to talk about those things".

The four-time Roland Garros champion said that his "dream" is to return to the ATP for the August 9 start of the Montreal Masters Series event, "I would like to come back in Montreal in a week and a half. I [will] have to force the knees and just see how far I can go."

"My main objective is not to regain the number one ranking. My main goal is to be well and happy to be playing tennis," Rafa said.

"I’m mentally ready to return now!"

Vamos Rafa! 

July 27th, 2009

Rafa Nadal has a very special afternoon scheduled for the day. Aside from the regular training sessions, his fitness and physiotherapeutic program, Rafa is also expecting a visit from the Spanish TV channel: TVE, represented by Lorenzo Mila and Rosana Romero who will interview the Spanish champion at his summer house in Porto Cristo.

The show (which will be aired tomorrow Tuesday on TVE1, right after the night news) will show an interview with Rafa in which he talks about his days away from the tennis court, about his recovery, his return to the tennis circuit and much more.

Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain

20th of July, 2009

Rafa is finally back training! It was the moment we’ve all been waiting for, especially Rafa and his team.

In what was a very light session lasting an hour and 15mins, the champion had a hit with his uncle and coach Toni Nadal. “It was just a quick training session, with no pressure to get a better idea of how he feels and on top of everything, make sure there is no pain,” said Toni.

“I’m very happy to be back training, get to touch a racket again and do what I love doing the most. At the same time, it was just a very light session, without putting too much pressure; just enough to see how I am".

“I still have to be very careful and I think within the next week and a half we will know more. Nevertheless, I’m still very happy,” said Rafa after the training session.

Manacor, Balearic Islands - Spain, July 14th, 2009

Rafa Nadal underwent further medical tests today in Barcelona. He is slowly recovering from his injury and will resume practice next Monday July 20th. He will back in action in Montreal where he is the defending champion.

Rafa travelled to Barcelona yesterday and underwent medical exams to see the evolution of the insertion tendinitis of both Quadricipitals Tendons through an MRI and radiography under the supervision of his doctor Angel Ruiz-Cotorro.

"The evolution of his injury is positive and the player will continue with his physiotherapy and muscular work and will resume his tennis activity in a progressive way starting next Monday July 20th, estimating his return to competition on August 8th at the Montreal event," said Angel Ruiz-Cotorro, Rafa's doctor.

Rafa will travel back today to Manacor to continue with his recovery plan and will resume his tennis practice next Monday. 

Rafa Nadal: "I am happy with the way the tests went and with the positive evolution of the injury as the doctors said. I am really looking forward to practicing again and to do what I like to do the most: to play tennis. The event in Montreal is important and I expect to be there fit to play. Until then I need to continue to work on my recovery and practice well."

July 14th, 2009

Later this afternoon, we will release a statement that will explain the current condition of Rafa’s injury.

Furthermore, the champion and his doctor will comment on the knee problems and its evolution.   

Thank you for your support, it means a lot to Rafa!

Manacor, Spain - July 7th 2009

This morning I woke up to one of the worst news anyone can receive. I heard about the death of my friend Mathieu Montcourt and I am still in shock, I can't believe it.

I knew Mathieu since we were kids. We competed together at all the events at an international level for kids: Les Petit As, Copa Borotta, etc, and of course, we played again afterwards after we became professionals.

When someone like this disappears, when something like this happens, you realize where you are and you put into perspective your life, winning or losing a tennis match, not competing at an event and everything else. This is the loss of a guy who was only 24 and who was a sportsman. He won't be playing with us again.

I would like to send my deepest and most sincere condolences to his family, to his friends and to the French fans.

Mathieu, Rest in peace.

Rafa Nadal