Nadal’s Loss to Darcis is not about his Injured Knees

The storm is coming and Al Dannity wants to cut it off. Rafael Nadal did not lose to Steve Darcis because of his knees. He won because sometimes, upsets happen in Tennis.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone should be re-phrased. How about ‘Let he who has sinned but totally owned up to it call people out for committing the same one’. Like pretty much every sports writer on the planet, I have questioned the durability of Rafael Nadal’s knees. It became an easy go-to source during his year of injury woe. Ever since then, whenever he’s lost, this has been the quick line from sports writers. Let’s step back a minute and think about what we’re saying.

Nadal has suffered physical injury, of that there is no question, but his sluggish streak a couple of years back also coincided with some troubles in his family life. That’s a massive mental burden for any young person to go through, especially one whose life is committed to the psychological warfare of Tennis. Those issues are largely behind Nadal and since then he has, when healthy, been consistently the best or second best player on the planet. Nadal’s low seeding at Wimbledon, he was the fifth seed, came about because of a curious situation in the ranking system. Despite beating David Ferrer in the French Open Final, he fell behind his countryman in the rankings the following day.

This, in case you needed reminding, was barely two weeks ago. Nadal was plenty fit to destroy all comers en route to the title in the French Open. Yes he dropped sets in the early rounds but the French Open uses different balls to the rest of the clay court circuit. Nadal has had issues for years in the opening rounds. By the start of the second week he had adapted and was back to his imperious self. When it comes to looking after his oft-discussed knees, Nadal has taken an aggressive approach. He’s dialling back the number of tournaments he plays on hard courts. The surface is the one most likely to harm him so he is now getting more rest and time to recuperate.

Blaming this defeat on Nadal’s knees does a disservice to both the Spaniard and Steve Darcis. Like Lukas Rosol a year ago, Darcis has delivered the shock of the tournament. Prior to the hegemony of the big four, this wasn’t all that uncommon. We look for explanations as to why Nadal lost because we aren’t used to seeing him lose. Let’s instead look at why Darcis won. This is a great day for the Belgian. Don’t spoil it by placing a phony asterisk beside the result.