the only thing that comes to my mind when i hear or see rafa getting injured is the amount of hardcourt tennis that he plays.to me these injuries of his r all due to his heavy participation on those no cushion,stressful hardcourts.......well, it might look funny but what i feel is,all the reasons y rafa gets injured so frequently boil down to one serious thing n that's the flat forehand that he's reluctant to use on hards.......one flat forehand of his ll prevent him from running for 3 to 4 extra shots every point which helps his body enormously over a length of time.......added to his voes, he is playing doubles in every HC tourney which can be reasoned as his dedication towards olympic medal for his country.now that hell of a lot tennis.....i m sure he won't play doubles again after olympics.
as far as HC tennis is concerned,i ve always felt that rafa shud only take part in all the masters events n GS with the exemption of chennai open coz he needs a warm up before a GS like oz open, not that coz i m an indian 
.......that ll keep him fresh n ll make him raring to go.......too much of anything is good for nothing.maybe he wudn't ve cared much about his HC defeats but definitely this defeat of his ll remind him the gruelling amount of tennis that he's playing........
Lots of players play on hard courts and don't have the same issues. Yes his effort level is a step above most, but is it that much more that he can't stay healthy where others can?
He has to play on hards because that's almost half the rankings points. In addition 4 of the MS and one GS are on hards. He has to show up for the MS tourneys as they are mandatory, and he has to do well in them to maintain his ranking. Not playing on hard courts is not an option.
yes, he shud play all the mandatory events.that's what i meant. there r 7 MS on hards(if u include the carpet event in paris n yr end masters cup) n 3 on clay. he shud play all those events along with the 4 GS. never said against that. now the remaining 4 or 5 events(to round off the 18 or 19 events for the ATP rankings) that he plays shud be on clay but not on hards.......he shud skip tournos like dubai,rotterdam,etc. added to that he's playing doubles in atleast 9 to 10 events out of those 18 or 19.......now that's tons n tons of tennis............
but he plays the small tourneys because he wants to improve on hard courts, I agree he should play on clay in Latin America instead of hards, look at the list of champions there, he should won all the small touneys on clay
2009 schedule should be:
4 grand slams, 9 MS and 3 500 events: Acapulco, Barcelona - clay, Valencia carpet and two small but prestigious tourneys like Stuttgart or Kitzbuhel, Queens and Chennai -to get ready for SW19 and AO.
agree with that. not to forget TMC as well........chennai n the 7 MS(including TMC) shud form his HC schedule.so overall 8 HC tourneys in a yr is ok......i don't quite buy that theory that he wud improve on hards if he plays more n more HC tennis.......coz it's not the age now to do so.he's an established ATP player already. he shud ve experimented with his HC schedule in his junior days........he shud plan his HC tourneys cleverly n give his best shot at them.that keeps him fresh always........
yes, I agree it's not the age to do so...he should play more on hist best surface and forget all hardcourts tourneys that are not MS! Last year he played 20 tourneys including Masters Cup. that could be a great schedule for 2009:
1-Chennai (hards)
2-GS-AO (hards)
3-Brazil (clay)
4-500 Acapulco (clay)
5-MS Indian Wells (hards)
6-MS Miami (hards)
7-MS Monte Carlo (clay)
8-500 Barcelona (clay)
9-MS Rome (clay)
10-MS Madrid (clay)
11-GS-FO (clay)
12-Queens (grass)
13-GS-Wimby (grass)
14-Stuttgart (clay)
15-MS Canada (hards)
16-MS Cincy (hards)
17-GS-USO (hards)
18-MS Shanghai (hards)
19-500 Valencia (carpet)
20-MS Paris (carpet)
then Masters Cup in London! 7 torneys on clay, 8 on hards, 2 on grass and 2 on carpet -he can add Baires or Kitzbuhel on clay and he should not play in 500 Rotterdam, 500 Dubai but he can win some valuable points in the asian swing: 500 Beijing, 500 Tokyo -and not play in 500 Basel-
correct me if i m wrong, aren't the no. of events considered for ATP rankings 18? so y does he need to take part in 21 events? doing so,he wud tax his body so much.......so, i don't really mind if he skips acapulko, cincy(despite a masters event, tell u y) n valencia........cincy is a masters event which just like hamburg following rome, starts right after the roger's cup.......now, bear in mind it's hard court stuff n wud exhaust rafa before US instead of serving him well for the US open...... moreover he's got nothing to lose at cincy this yr, as he retired very early in the tourno last yr.......so, it ll be better if he makes a habbit of skipping cincy.......remember rafa never played hamburg til last yr so y not do that at cincy where his chances wud be little to gain anything.......i m a firm believer that a player like rafa doesn't need much practice(he wud get that in rogers cup), given his style of play. instead a good rest for a week or 10 days before a big tourney like US open wud charge his batteries considerably n keep him fresh........
I prefer not to comment about the us open series, 6 weeks in summer with only 2 big events Cincy and Canada. Boring! who really cares about New Haven, Indy, Washington and LA. I hate this part of the year!
but take 6 weeks in the clay season, you will find: Rome, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Barcelona, Estoril-Hamburg-Valencia, and the weeek prior to RG.....
that's UNFAIR and this is the big turning point for Rafa, just imagine for a second taking the ratio of the us open series (only 2 MS in 6 weeks) the claycourt season before RG FOR RAFA should be at least 9 weeks with 7 days for rest before each big MS!
It's obvious that the atp schedule is for american fans (that mostly hate clay) just remember how Rafa reacted when they moved Miami one week later to allow fans to watch college hoops
