Do you think Nadal's knee problem is can be likened to Fed's mono? Will it impact his future games and career?

If it's patellar tendonitis, then Nadal will need an extended period of time before he recovers from it (months ... not weeks). I've been battling patellar tendonitis for over 2 years and everytime I think it's back to normal, it eventually comes back. It's more of a chronic, nagging pain that just seems to linger. I can play through the pain, to a certain extent, but it definitely impacts the knee strength. At the level of play on the pro tennis tour, I doubt one can effectively play through the pain on a consistent basis.

Nadal's style of play makes him especially prone to it, with all the quick stops and starts that he does. Nadal wins because of this agressive style, but ultimately it will be his downfall. My own game is similar (at an amateur level) in that I rely on quickness rather than skill to win. I wish I had better skills just to ease the pounding on my body. Not that Nadal doesn't have the skills, but he needs to improve those skills to lessen his reliance on "athleticism". I thought he was on the right track at the Australian Open, where he was driving the ball flatter rather than relying on the heavy topspin. The heavy topspin, although difficult to handle, allows the other player time to keep the point going. Thus, longer rallies, and more stress on Nadal's knees.

Kind of a dilemna for Nadal right now. To preserve his knees, he'll need to spend more time playing on clay, which doesn't allow for the quick stops and starts. At the same time, he needs to figure out a way to play more efficiently on hard courts, which can only be gained by playing on hard courts.

Are you kidding me? Nadal...heavy? Look at how looks deceive everybody. Both Federer and Nadal have identical stats....identical! Both are 6'1" and 188 lbs. It's the way they move; Federer glides across the surface; he's always on his toes. Nadal does a lot of stop and starts, kinda like a sprinter. One more thing is balance. Nadal hits a lot of shots from insane body positions which obviously hurts his knees in the long run. I don't think he can change any of that, because that sprinting movement to anywhere in the court is his biggest weapon. If he gets rid of that, he'll not be as effective. His best option is to stick to a routine before and after the match like hot/cold massages etc and playing the bare minimum of 18 tournaments a year. (4 GS, 8 ATP1000, 4 ATP500 and 2 ATP250)

Nadal's style of play will force him to retire in a couple of years. I love his fighting spirit, but if he wants to have a long term career, he has to improve his serve so he can get free points when he is down break points, and hit flat forehand winners (which he did as a tennager, but stopped for some reason). The human body is not designed to run that often. Nadal pays the price. Maybe he should look at Federer for once! He basically succeeds with his topspin forehand because his left is way too muscular comparing to his right arm. His arms are uneven, which is very weird - it doesn't look normal.

Yes I agree! Federer game was affected alot because of the mono as the movement in his game has never quite recoveered! Hopefully he will return to hes best. With Rafa I think he will be fine! Hes had knee problems like this before he'll be right for the next 3 to 4 years then the knees might force him to retire! But don't worry Rafa will be up and going by no time!

i honestly think Nadal's is a lot worse. knees affect you everyday, the mono thing was just at the aussie and fed didnt have an excuse for anything else (im not a rafa fan so this is unbiased). I think it will definately impact him, he will win (im predicting 3-5) more slams then his knees will really start to kick in. he will get in finals and stuff but the knees are really vital (mono doesnt last for several years). So nadal may end up retiring a year or two early. he will be a hall of fame player and maybe a coach.

Injuries are inevitable part of nadal's tennis because nadal don't have enough talent to just win without injuries. Nadal need to sacrifice his body to win. his career won't be long. I don't think either too bad, I actually think It has been good for nadal to have injury like this because He choose the way to sacrifice his body for tennis and he choose tennis over his health, It's been so succesful that He did have successful career over the last 5 years by sacrificing his body and finally succefully have injury that's inevitable and will have much more. that's good.... If he would have chosen health over tennis, I think that's good for him too because though He can't win tennis tournament, he would remain healthy. I really love the spirit of rafael nadal to sacrifice his body to win a tennis match, He has great sport spirit. sacrificing body is really the only way for players without much talent to have temporaly status like players who have talent for short period of time. I have enormous respect for nadal because If I were Nadal, I can't sacrifice my body for tennis.....I don't have that much zealot like spirit. My body is more importan than anything or money.... I know Nadal is going to change his style someday to play normal tennis instead of tennis that demends his body to burn, then he will be average player again.....He will be okay...

for federer part, I really think that Federer was affected by mono until now because federer was so dominant right before mono and suddenly have been in slump, he just didn't say about his illness because He is not the type of guy who give excuse and he have unbelievable talent that make him still play competitive game even when he is sick.

No, but it definitely could. At least I suspect because Nadal is very superstitious, so any kind of problem, no matter how big or small, is likely to bring him down. So yeah the knee problem could affect his play both mentally and physically.

No. people get illnesses because thats part of life. people get injuries because of (inter alia) excess stresson /use of the body part. nadal chose to play this scrappy style, he had to in order to win, because his racquet skills arent up there with Federers, its a style that will have a good amount of short term success, as we saw the last 12 months, but is not conducive to a long-term successful career. he has no chance at breaking the slams record, but saying "only cause of injuries" is not an excuse, he gets the injuries because of his style, which he has to play because pure skill wise hes not that good. he just has heaps of energy but the human body is not designed to do that much running so often

nadalknee problem likened fedmono impact future games career

his knee will most likely take him out of play for a while to fully recover yet feds mono just needed recovery time.