Ready….Set….Withdraw!

 

 

 

 

PARIS (AP) - Top-ranked Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Paris Masters for medical reasons.

Tournament director Jean-Francois Caujolle said Friday he did not know the exact nature of Nadal's ailment. The ATP tour said Nadal would discuss the reasons for his withdrawal at a news conference in Paris on Sunday or Monday.

The Spanish player recently said he was feeling fatigue after a successful season in which he won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Nadal has not played since a third-round defeat to Jurgen Melzer at the Shanghai Masters on Oct 14.

With Nadal's withdrawal, Roger Federer has the No. 1 seed and will start against the winner between Nicolas Mahut and Richard Gasquet. The tournament begins Sunday.

 

 

I’m assuming this is, indeed, ‘fatigue’ though we’ll only know for sure after his presser next week.

 

Are those Southeast Asian chickens now coming home to roost?

 

Or is it a more random niggle? Might it even be precautionary?

 

Is he saving himself for London WTF – the only high-end title he’s not won?

 

Is that even allowed?

 

And what, incidentally, is the correct protocol under such circumstances?

 

Can a blog post be entirely composed of questions?

 

Would it be wrong of me to try?

 

You have to think Rafa would need a sick note to pull out of a Masters 1000 event, no?

 

(Did that last question actually qualify as question? Or was it a fudge?)

 

Can fatigue even be diagnosed in the conventional sense?

 

Was playing both Bangkok and Tokyo going into Shanghai a mistake?

 

Are cumulative, delayed effects indeed the bitch everyone says they are?

 

Was I right or was I right?

 

How do you say ‘yes’ and still make it seem like a question?

 

Are you still listening?

 

Why?