Rafael Nadal, who is scheduled to play Kyle Edmund of Great Britain in the round-of-32 of the Monte Carlo Masters, reveals that knee injuries worry him more than the wrist problems that halted his campaign at last year’s French Open championships. The 30-year-old Nadal is all set to kick off his clay court season in Monte Carlo, where he’s gunning for a record 10 titles in the ATP 1000 Masters tournament.
The "Mallorcan Bull" has been playing excellent tennis through the first three months of the ATP calendar, reaching three finals of the five tournaments he has competed in.
Tennis followers believe that the Spaniard could have been riding on much bigger momentum right now, if he hadn’t faced Roger Federer in the finals of the Australian Open and Miami Masters. Nadal might have lost three consecutive matches to his Swiss rival this year, but he will nevertheless enter the clay court season as the favorite, with Federer deciding to rest until the French Open championships.
Knee injuries a concern
The Spaniard had a solid buildup heading to the 2016 French Open championships, with victories at the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open. Unfortunately, another wrist injury forced Nadal to withdraw from his third-round match with Marcel Granollers. The 14-time Grand Slam winner admitted that the wrist problem was a devastating blow to his campaign last season, but he nevertheless felt lucky it wasn’t a knee injury.
Nadal believes an injured knee would be a bigger concern for him because it limits his movement. The Spaniard knows this very well since he has been through grueling knee rehabilitation before.
"I am much more worried about my knees than about my wrist," Nadal told reporters via the Independent. "I believe the knees are more dangerous for me than the wrist.
The wrist injury was an accident."
Djokovic’s lackluster play
Carlos Moya, who recently joined Nadal’s team following the exit of Toni Nadal this year, pointed out the reasons behind Novak Djokovic’s recent struggle. The former world no.1 believes the problem is more mental than physical, as he noticed the lack of intensity and passion from Djokovic in his recent matches, especially after winning his first title at Roland Garros.
Djokovic recently survived a second-round upset bid from Giles Simon, edging the Frenchman 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to advance to the next round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Despite this on-going struggle, Moya still expected the Serb to become one of the major contenders in the coming tournaments, sensing that he will eventually find his groove sooner or later.
