Nadal again went for a Five Setter in Wimbledon
During a 40-minute practice at the All England Club on Sunday, Rafael Nadal‘s bothersome right knee held up fine.
During changeovers while coming back to beat No. 33-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 in the third round, the 2008 Wimbledon champion received treatment from a trainer and Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and coach clarified by saying, “The knee is so much better”.
It was Nadal’s second consecutive five-set victory. For Nadal, this early at a major tournament, it was for the first time he has ever had two matches go the distance.
During a star-studded training session, the Spaniard went out to hit early Sunday afternoon. To Nadal’s right, perhaps 20 feet away was Roger Federer on another court and to Nadal’s left was Andy Roddick. For fun, Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling played a tiebreaker, just nearby to Nadal.
With all 16 men’s and women’s fourth-round matches, Wimbledon resumes on Monday. Nadal, No. 2-seeded, faces 66th-ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.
“I hope and think he can play with no problem, we are nervous about the opponent, but not the knee, at the moment”, said Toni Nadal.
Last year, in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, Rafael Nadal had skipped it because of tendinitis in both knees. Not to defend championship because of an injury, Nadal became the fifth player in the history of an event first contested in 1877.
Because of trouble with the right knee, at the Australian Open quarterfinal, he had stopped playing against Andy Murray. Nadal acknowledged that he has been dealing with knee issues this spring.
He said he did not have time to have the treatment procedure done on his right knee, although, after winning the title on clay at Monte Carlo later in April, he had received treatment on his left knee.
He wound up going 22-0 and collecting four titles during the European clay-court circuit, including his fifth French Open and seventh Grand Slam championship overall.
Angel Ruiz Cotorro, a doctor with the Spanish tennis federation who works with Nadal, after watching Nadal practice Sunday said, “better, but we will see tomorrow, in the morning.”
