Rafael Nadal To Undergo Appendix Surgery On Nov 3, Will Miss Paris And London

As predicted….instead of skipping shanghai and having the procedure 3 weeks earlier in order to be ready for Paris and WTF, Nadal decides to play trough it and of course, he now feels that he is no competitive to play the year end championship against the top players. Head to head intact, no?
Next year the story will be, “Injured nadal misses WTF, AGAIN”

October 24th, 2014 at 4:15 pm

under 50 matchwins for the season.

October 24th, 2014 at 4:17 pm

good luck to rafa for the surgery

October 24th, 2014 at 4:23 pm

Hopefully the surgery and recovery will go well.

October 24th, 2014 at 4:28 pm

What if Rafa got the surgery immediately when he was symptomatic? Could he had played WTF?

October 24th, 2014 at 4:29 pm

I wish Nadal a successful surgery and a quick full recovery. Appendectomy is not a major surgery. He sholuld do well. 2014 has not been a good year by his standards but he got his 9th French, so it’s not a totally bad year. I would say it’s actually better than Roger’s.

October 24th, 2014 at 4:56 pm

@Polo: “I would say it’s actually better than Roger’s.”. Oh oh. I feel sorry for you now Polo since you are going to have more problems on here than a person who’s just heard Samuel L Jackson read Ezekiel to them in Pulp Fiction!

October 24th, 2014 at 5:01 pm

Big thanks to the well wishers toward Rafa on this issue: it’s appreciated. Those who seem to harbour the alternative sentiment…. Well there’s no use with such petty folks. Rafa: best of luck with this issue. You tried your best to continue on with it but quite clearly it was impediment to your performance. No shame in that. True to your character you have your best and have called it time when the body said no more. That’s perfectly fine. Many wished you called it time earlier but your fans and genuine lovers of the game appreciate that you wanted to tough it out, still maintain your commitments and continue on as best as you possibly could do. Got nothing but respect for doing that even in a inevitable losing cause. All the best Champ and I’m sure you’ll see that in a gloomy season full with many setbacks being able to call yourself a Grand Slam winner still in the calendar year is reason enough to confront the future with hope of success in more healthier times. Vamos Rafa!

October 24th, 2014 at 5:08 pm

Hahaha, but I’m ready Brando because that is the truth, at least by the way I see it . It’s no secret that i am a Federer fan. Each year that goes by without a Federer major title is a bad year.

October 24th, 2014 at 5:10 pm

@Brando. Great post.
All the best to our Champ that is Rafael Nadal.

October 24th, 2014 at 5:36 pm

About bloody time IMO,playing when not 100%,your on a hiding to nothing….

October 24th, 2014 at 5:54 pm

@Skeezer, it’s hard to say. Really would depend on how long he would need to truly recover and start training again. My guess is that he wouldn’t have been at factor at the WTF if he had the surgery earlier because it would have come on the heels of his long wrist-injury layoff.

October 24th, 2014 at 6:12 pm

Also big congrats to Coric,i didnt see the match,and i know squat about this kid,but a fantastic win never the less….

October 24th, 2014 at 6:15 pm

@Polo – as of right now I agree with you. A grand slam title is a bigger accomplishment than any of the wonderful results that Fed has had this year so far. However, should Fed win the WTF and the Davis Cup, I would probably consider his year to be better. Normally I wouldn’t weigh DC so high but it falls into the category of one of the few things that Fed hasn’t won, so at this point in his career it has more weight.

October 24th, 2014 at 6:16 pm

HC. Why do you say it was a fantastic win, eh? Did he beat a healthy Rafa, eh???

October 24th, 2014 at 6:25 pm

It WAS a fantastic win for the 17 yr old. And why wouldn’t be?
Rafa may have not had a happy look on his face the whole match, but imo he moved fine. What was off was his confidence and focus. Probably the impending surgery was on his mind. Nonetheless, he chose to play another rd, and the kid has had a fantastic run. Well deserved win!

October 24th, 2014 at 6:35 pm

RZ,
Yeah forgot about the wrist thingy. Just wondering, if he got the surgery right away instead of prolonging it all if it gave him a better shot at a year end. Whats that, hindsight is 20/40?

October 24th, 2014 at 6:39 pm

https://twitter.com/staffsky/status/525728189050781696
For those wondering why Rafa did t have the op earlier read this tweet.

October 24th, 2014 at 6:49 pm

^??uh??

October 24th, 2014 at 7:28 pm

the last 6 matches it felt he was playing like on challenger events again after injury. those were Basically practice sessions under the belt before calling it an official end to the year.

but let us take a closer look.

he will play the ao with no toronto ,cincy,usopen, Paris ,London as preperation. He is practically not match fit at the moment and will not be after surgery. The last time he missed all those tournaments before Melbourne was in 2012,he didn’t play the ao 2013 .
if he plays in ’15 he’ll need the run of his life down under. Impossible? Possible ? I think so !

October 24th, 2014 at 7:36 pm

I would never rule out a healthy Rafa @ 2015 AO – his last comeback was nothing short of freaky!

October 24th, 2014 at 8:13 pm

I would also never rule out a healthy Rafa. His career has always been marked by streaks. The one constant: when clay season comes, he is ON FORM.

October 24th, 2014 at 9:14 pm

This date gives him 2 months and 15 days before AO which on paper should be fine. But I agree that expecting him to excell im AO without enough math toughness is too much. Maybe how performs Abu Dhabu and Doha will give is a closer look.

Yea we know last time he had an amazon comebak
But it took him months. He skipped AO play 3 minor clay tourneys and his season in 2013 started to change in a last say “lucky” turn of eventa in IW 13′. He won a close match against DelPo, sirvied a few scares and the top dogs didn’t delivered. By that time he hasn’t won a HC title in over more than a year. Than he build hos confidence for clay have a shock wbledon loss but by the time
north america came he unleashed his best.

He will have 15 to 17 days prior to AO with top 7 matches: 2 in Abu if he wins hos first and 5 in doha if he goes to the final.

Don’t think he will be a “Nadal” force in AO as he was this year before back bend him down. My two cents.

And with a #3 rank he could be in Djoko’s semis, but who knows draw may open up and he is the most sucessfull ahaisnt fellow top tenners. Not ruling him out bu not comsidering him to be at 100% by AO.

Right now he needs the surgery than proper recovery no other health issues (the guy needs a break) and than focus on getting back to his level and as some poite on aorher tread go for history: #15, 10th RG and close on Fed’s total.

October 24th, 2014 at 9:53 pm

AO always was and is the main goal, to win the double career grand slam, something than even the upper talented swiss couldnt accomplish.
To equal Rod Laver in that regard, Rafael Nadal can clinch another feat in tennis history, be the first in Open Era to do it and win a 15 major, more than Pete Sampras someone whose style of play was much less demanding than the Spanish Maestro of Majorca.
And even his detractors of his style of play, he can win a major for an 11th season in a row!
So, 2015 can be more exciting than this season for Rafa,. He is not done yet.

October 24th, 2014 at 10:26 pm

Good luck to rafa with his surgery.

October 24th, 2014 at 11:01 pm

“AO always was and is the main goal”.
Uh? Maybe as a fan you should worry about him getting healthy first. AO is not the goal. Getting fit and healhy first, is. We’ll see…

October 24th, 2014 at 11:04 pm

Get better soon Rafa. The tennis world is way more fun with all the top guns healthy and playing well. It’s not “Big Boy Tennis” without you, a certain Swiss and a certain Serb in the game.

October 24th, 2014 at 11:48 pm

Will Nadal come back in 2015 as tough and as good as he was in his glory years? At age 28, rehabilitated knees, the many minor dinks and chips in his body, his young opponents slightly but surely emboldened about their chances? Never one to be taken lightly but will it still be the relentless, powerful, peerless, fearless Nadal we will see in 2015?

October 25th, 2014 at 12:23 am

Wishing Rafa all the best and hoping the surgery goes well.

October 25th, 2014 at 1:03 am

Rafa tried a course of antibiotics instead of an appendectomy, which apparently didn’t work. He and his team made the decision so that he could play Shanghai. It’s pure bad faith to say he couldn’t have had the surgery because of the antibiotics, which he was on because of the appendicitis he was taking instead of the surgery in the first place.

That said, this sucks. I hope he recovers quickly.

October 25th, 2014 at 1:45 am

Hope everything goes smooth for Rafa with Surgery and be hale and healthy for AO 15.

October 25th, 2014 at 1:46 am

Oops, editing fail. I meant to say:

“It’s pure bad faith to say he couldn’t have had the surgery because of the antibiotics which he was taking instead of an appendectomy in the first place.”

October 25th, 2014 at 1:48 am

I stillcould not make sense out if your edited version. Taking antibiotics is not a contraindication to surgery.

October 25th, 2014 at 1:53 am

Of, not if.

October 25th, 2014 at 1:54 am

The tweet Giles linked to claimed that Rafa couldn’t get the surgery earlier because of antibiotics. It doesn’t make any sense to me either. But unless Rafa was taking different antibiotics for something different (not implausible, I suppose), it’s especially absurd that he couldn’t do X because he chose to do Y instead of X.

October 25th, 2014 at 1:56 am

I’m sure if I were Rafa I would have made the same choice to play, but now that it unfortunately hasn’t worked out, his delusional fanboys like Giles shouldn’t pretend that he couldn’t have been more cautious to start with. That’s all I mean.

October 25th, 2014 at 2:04 am

@Eric
If there’s inflammation, indicating an infection, of the appendix, antibiotics are used to control this. But you do wait to see if they’ve been effective, before surgery.
This is common proceedure before all sorts of op.

October 25th, 2014 at 2:21 am

My son had appendicitis and they did the surgery asap…but he was in dire pain. Obviously Rafa was not in serious pain. I remember Tony went to the scheduled practice that day and told spectators or media that he had a virus……I figure he was hurting some and he had a cat scan and it showed the appendix not swollen to the size of rupturing, so they gave him antibiotics. That’s all it can be. Because if the appendix was really swollen they would have to have done surgery before it ruptured. The bottom line is he’s got doctors and I’m sure they’ve got things under control.

October 25th, 2014 at 2:57 am

okiegal
everybody who has had ruptured appendix knows Nadal was not diagnosed with appendix ruptured.
the pain is very obvious and no way doen you want to live on for aan day with the appendix. I remember to say to the docter please operate immediately because ut is terrible.

October 25th, 2014 at 3:46 am

Eric. You will do well to keep shtum on medical matters you know nothing about!! Pffffft

October 25th, 2014 at 3:55 am

Giles @October 24th 6.25pm Coric just beat a 14 GS champion,so of course its a fantastic win,well thats my theory,your entitled to yours though,so dont let me stop you….
Skeezer thankyou….

October 25th, 2014 at 6:13 am

HC. If he had beaten a healthy Rafa then yes, it would have been classified as a “fantastic win” but as it stands he beat an ailing Nadal which takes away the gloss being attributed to the win. I know it, Coric knows it and you should know it. Unless you choose to ignore it!!
Btw just keep sucking up to skeezer, it suits your personality.
Geeeez some people!!

October 25th, 2014 at 8:03 am

giles – many poeple whom nadal has defeated arent in the perfect health , however we count these as wins nevertheless. Remember that many players dont make such a big drama about injury and hence we never come to know.

Its failry simple – If you are healthy enough to play , you are healthy.

I hope that nadal gets better and can display the best of his abilities, but to belittle the victory of another player is a mark of low standards.

October 25th, 2014 at 12:29 pm

Giles im not sucking up to anyone,ive had disagreements with Skeezer,which i have made my stance about,but i agree on this that the win was a fantastic result,yet you think otherwise,which is your perogative,stop been so bloody childish….

October 25th, 2014 at 12:43 pm

@Sienna…..That’s what I said, his appendix were not to the rupturing stage or they would have done surgery. The appendix were inflamed, and apparently not too bad, therefore antibiotics were administered intravenously. I’m no doctor and assume neither or you….so we really don’t know enough about the problem to even be commenting…..

October 25th, 2014 at 3:43 pm

Eric, you are corect. Indeed, it dioes not make sense that surgery would not be done simply because the patient is on antibiotics. I would surmise that Nadal’s CT scan showed an uncomplicated appendicitis ( no appendolith by CT) so they opted on antibiotic treatment and observation. There is high recurrence with antibiotic treatment (20%) so now they decided to have the surgery which is a wiser option.

October 25th, 2014 at 4:10 pm

I had a friend who was given an antibiotic (pre surgery) to kill the bad bacteria that is in our bodies, in turn it killed the good. She was sicker after she had the surgery than before. She almost died. There can be complications with any surgery so if the problem can be taken care with meds, that is probably what you would want to try first…..being the least invasive procedure. Didn’t cure it, so surgery is the ultimate fix.

Not sure why the antibiotics interfered with surgery but I’m sure they have things under control. Is there thinking out there that this medical plan was used because of an ulterior motive?? Curious??

October 25th, 2014 at 4:33 pm

Polo, thanks.

Margot, Giles, yes, but what I was saying is that a patient with appendicitis has two options: appendectomy, on the one hand, and a course of antibiotics, on the other. My understanding is that team Rafa opted for the latter, presumably hoping that he would be able to play for the rest of the season. It didn’t work, and now he needs the operation. But when he was diagnosed, several weeks ago now, they could have opted, at that time, for an appendectomy, which presumably would have kept him out of Basel and probably Paris, but maybe not the WTF.

They went for the riskier route and it did not pay off. But they could have been more conservative. I’m not criticizing the choice, at all, and I will miss Rafa at these events.

October 25th, 2014 at 4:37 pm

@Giles 8:03

Tell Coric it wasn’t a fantastic win!!

October 25th, 2014 at 7:07 pm

It is distressing to see a great fighter like Rafa in this piquant situation where he is completely short of confidence and is looking highly vulnerable even against journeymen. Sure, Rafa came a cropper in a sequence of Wimbledon outings losing in the 2nd round, then in the first round and finally last year his pride was wounded by a little known Krygois. It is from then his misfortune started. But, tellingly, Rafa didn’t enjoy a good season even in his favourite Clay court surface this year. Although he won Rolland Garros for an unprecedented 9th time, his performance in Clay court master series tournaments was a real dampener despite his victory at Madrid against a physically struggling Nishikori who was strangely dictating Rafa on a Clay court. Rafa is today in a very strange situation as to how to go forward ? Apart from his physical problems, he has a mental issue too and he is literally in a quandry ? To perform surgery or not was the principle idea dominating his mind rather than match play and although he participated in matches to prove something his heart was not onto it. I think he could have wisely skipped tournaments once he was diagonised with appendicitis and concentrated on alleviating it rather than continuing his match play by being in two minds. Nevertheless, he and his Team were the best judge and they made a call which has perceivably back fired. The good thing is Rafa will be performing his surgery and may be he has good chances of competing in Australian Open. Let us wait and watch how things unfolds. But if you are a Rafa fan, it is terribly depressing to see your idol in such a bad shape.

October 26th, 2014 at 12:44 am

I just finished watching Nadal/Coric match for the second time, people can see what they want to see but this was 60% or at best 70% Nadal. As I said on the other thread, he played this match just for the sake of playing and wanted to go home. It was no fire nor desire to win and I stand by what I am saying. Is it apendix or something else I don’t know and I don’t want to go there. When somebody is serving 50% against Rafa and wins in two sets and when Rafa has 37 UE in those two sets (when was the last time Rafa had 37 UE in two sets!!) it is clear that Rafa just didn’t want to be there for whatever reason.
The only people happier than Coric were Roger fans in arena, they knew their man has a clear path to Basel title with Rafa gone:)

October 26th, 2014 at 1:40 am

@Wog Boy
if someone looses to Nadal and we see a high number of UE by the other player, would you not give credit to nadal for the victory

If someone is healthy enough to travel, practice and play , there is no reason for taking credit from the victor.

Nadal has never defended a HC title, therefore making excuses for this HC loss doesn’t make much sense.

October 26th, 2014 at 2:51 am

Wog Boy,

If Rafa doesn’t want to be there ? Why is he there ? What is the compulsion that is driving him ? Remember he is no ordinary player and has an image to protect.

October 26th, 2014 at 4:48 am

Michael,Rafa does want to be there,probably not at the moment with this ailment,but who would want to go to work feeling ill,as im damn sure i dont?anyway the commies were saying the other day,that Rafa loves tennis,the challenge,and even the suffering,what i find tiresome is the comparison with Roger,he wont be playing or at the same level when hes 33,his body is breaking down,he has a more punishing style of play,unlike Roger who makes it look effortless etc etc,well he aint Roger hes Rafa,and regarless of his tennis shortcomings still has 14 GS,and theres only one man in history with more,and he aint retiring,hes still playing,and is still a top 3 player,that won a GS for the 10th straight year,so he must be doing something right?
2014 Wasnt a spectacular year by his lofty standards hmm,surely he cant be expected to have a season like last year every year,that would take a phenomenal effort,but he still won 4 titles one been a slam,and made another GS final,the problem is these elite players set their standards so high,its hard to live upto year in year out,but we should also realize they are human that can also have dips in form too….

October 26th, 2014 at 5:37 am

Michael,

Please, watch the match again, watch Rafa’s FH, BH, Rafa’s movement, Rafa’s desire, Rafa’s shoulders dropped down most of the match, Rafa’s never die atitude and you’ll find out out that there is none of that in this match.
I am quite happy to see Rafa losing in the match that he is fighting to win but I don’t take any pleasure in him losing in the matches like this, but that’s only me.
As for the answer why he was playing, I guess you have to ask Uncle Toni and Rafa himself.

October 26th, 2014 at 5:52 am

so the question remains why did he enter shanghai / Basel? arent those ligid questions press can ask.
for me the only reason to think of is his deal with Basel.
but that would make him more a money wolf instead of tennis champion.
Roger has also questioned rafa decision to play Basel. it probably will be picked up tomorrow.

October 26th, 2014 at 8:29 am