Rafael Nadal has had quite the summer.  Having been undefeated at the French Open, he suffered his first loss ever to unheralded Swede, Robin Soderling.  Afterwards, he decided not to defend his Wimbledon title and let his knees heal so he could play the US Open, the one major he had not won, and and the one major he had failed to reach the final.

Although Nadal’s knees were good enough for him to run at his usual speed, Nadal had an abdominal injury that left him playing less than his best.  Who knows if that caused his defeat to Juan Martin del Potro or whether del Potro would have won anyway.  More than likely, Nadal would still have lost, even at 100%.

It was no surprise that Nadal took time off after the US Open.  Indeed, many of the top 5 players do exactly that.  Since they play more matches than most, their wear and tear aren’t the same as lower ranked players.

Nadal was finally cleared to play by his doctors and will play in the China Open next week.  The tour has taken an Asian swing with tournaments currently being played in Thailand and Malaysia this week, then Japan and China next week.  Japan had had some of the top players playing, but many had begged out.  Federer cited fatigue.  Murray’s wrist problems that occurred during the US Open still seem to be bothering him.  That leaves del Potro as the top seed in Japan.

The next Masters 1000 is Shanghai.  This is a new event (Shanghai hosted the year-end Masters event last year) which replaces the Madrid indoor event.  Madrid switched from being an indoor event to a clay event prior to the French.  Madrid bumped Hamburg from the Masters 1000.  Hamburg was played after Wimbledon this year.  There are two major events before the end of the year: the Paris Indoors Masters 1000 event (BNP Paribas Masters) and the year-end event held in London this year.

Federer is also skipping Shanghai.  He claimed fatigue and injuries.  Last year, Federer’s back had bothered him so he skipped a few weeks as well but unlike Nadal, Federer did play the end of year Masters championship.

We’re winding up another tennis season!