Wimbledon, Sans Rafa Nadal

Rafael Nadal won’t be playing at Wimbledon this year. In a news conference on Friday, Nadal announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon due to bad knees; tendentious. This has been an ongoing problem for Nadal, and I’m sure that the heavy playing schedule he maintains doesn’t help. With Nadal not playing, he becomes only the second men’s champion in 35 years to decline to defend his Wimbledon title. I’m sure this is a record he’s not too happy to have acquired.
Some tennis insiders are hinting that bad knees are not the only reason for Nadal’s pull-out. They say that Nadal is mentally off his game, that he’s hit a wall, all reasons enough for him to pull back and recharge. Hopefully Rafa can get back to playing soon, he’s still young and he has a lot of good tennis years before him.
With Nadal not in this year’s draw it leaves the men’s championship trophy up for grabs. Will Roger Federer regain his number one status and take the cup, or will one of the many up and coming men’s tennis stars take it. Like Andy Murray, the young Scot who has all of Great Briton praying that an Englishman takes the cup, the first one since 1936 when Fred Perry won the championship. Murray definitely has the talent and willpower to do it, but he’ll have to get through Roger Federer first. Even without Nadal, this year’s fortnight at Wimbledon is shaping up to be a good one.

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