Roger Federer (Photo : Getty Images)
Rafael Nadal opened up about his wrist injury, which played a major role in the Spaniard's struggles this season.
Nadal gave an update on the left wrist injury he suffered at Roland Garros earlier this year. Nadal admitted that the injury was the factor in his decision to skip the remainder of the season and come back in full health next year.
"Mentally, I am doing well," Nadal said, reports Tennis World USA. "The problem is that from when I got injured in Madrid, I only played US Open feeling less pain, and I have been playing with this problem for too many months."
"And the wrist is so important for my game, without being able to fully hit forehand everything is tougher. It was the moment to take a decision, I will rest for some days in order to be able to practice normally."
There were times Nadal showed glimpses of his former self this season, which earned him back-to-back titles during the European clay circuit. His quest to return to his elite form almost came to fruition at the French Open, but an injury to his left wrist forced the King of Clay to retire from the event, pushing him on the sidelines for more than two months.
Like Nadal, Roger Federer also had a very rough season. For the first time in his career, Federer finished the season without winning any Tour-level titles, mainly because of injuries and setbacks that plagued him all-season long.
Federer was the first to decide on sitting out the remainder of the year after re-injuring his surgically-repaired knee at Wimbledon. But the Swiss Maestro has always been optimistic in his impending return to the tennis scene. According to the Basel native, he is getting better, but insisted about not rushing the process.
"I am practicing well, we are going step by step although we could do more. We are practicing 90 minutes per day and I am almost 100%. Now we will increase the intensity both in the gym and on the tennis court. By next week Ivan (Ljubicic) will be there as well," Federer said.
"In the last two months I played less tennis, maybe ten or twelve times and three times I played more than an hour. For the rest, half an hour and sometimes hitting against the wall. I did not want to take risks after all the physical practice I did."
Both Federer and Nadal have slipped down the ATP World Rankings, dwelling out of the world's top-four for the first time in 13 years. But they could probably care less about their current rankings as long as they could remain in full health all throughout next season.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic could be on the verge of losing his top spot in the world rankings. Djokovic, who recently admitted he no longer thinks about being winning titles, is now only 2,415 points ahead of world No. 2 Andy Murray.
Djokovic is scheduled to play at the BNP Paribas Open and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals next month, where the Serb defends his crowns at both events. Winning in Paris and London should see Djokovic continue his reign as world No. 1, but Murray's consistency could certainly topple Nole from the top of the leaderboard.
