Rafa out of Shanghai 2008
Rafa Nadal, world’s number one tennis player has pulled out of the Shanghai Masters, citing the long season and fatigue as his reasons. Just last week, Nadal pulled out of Paris Masters after losing the first set to Nikolay Davydenko. Nadal made the announcement on his website and indicated that this was one of the most difficult decisions in his career. This was a long and avery successful season for Rafa Nadal. He supplanted Roger Federer at the top spot, and he won two Grand Slam titles (French Open and Wimbledon). He also won the Olympic gold medal for Spain.
So what’s the impact of Nadal’s non-participation? On the surface, Frenchman Gilles Simon will fill in the vacant slot. On a deeper level, this will allow Roger Federer to have his fun in the cup and should allow him to capture his fifth Masters titles.
For a fan, this is bad not to see Rafa Nadal compete in the year-end event. But this is a good decision for Rafa in order not to complicate his injuries. So will it be Roger Federer winning the year-end event? This might be difficult for him since there is Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, my two bets to make a good impression on the said event.
Nadal, who won two Grand Slam titles and the Olympic gold medal this year as he supplanted Roger Federer at No. 1, said he was physically rundown.
