Rafael Nadal: Strong Return from Injury Will Lead Rafa to 2013 French Open Title

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: February 10, 2013

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Rafael Nadal is on course for his eighth French Open Grand Slam title after it appeared that his title defense was in real jeopardy at one stage.

The Spaniard had missed almost eight months of tennis heading into the VTR Open in Chile last week, with both knee injuries and viruses keeping him away from the game.

He had missed the 2012 London Olympics and the U.S. Open and withdrew from the Australian Open Grand Slam as well, leaving many wondering whether the clay-court specialist would be alright for the remainder of the season.

And despite a somewhat rusty start to the tournament, Nadal is seemingly back and is once again the favorite to succeed at the 2013 French Open.

Nadal has moved through to the finals of the VTN Open in both the singles and the doubles last week and will look to cap off a strong tournament when he takes on World No. 73 Horacio Zeballos—a match that he should cruise through with ease.

Yet the bigger thing for the Spanish international in his return hasn't been getting results and wins, but simply gaining confidence in his game. Of course, winning is nice, but as Nadal pointed out himself, what was happening in the overall picture was most important:

Every day improves and increases the confidence for me. Every day that the knee answers well is a lot of positive energy for me, and that's helping me a lot. The feeling day by day is better—the feeling on court.

I am very happy [with] what I am doing this whole week, so I cannot ask for any more. The reality is that I'm in a final, which for me is very nice, very important after so much time without competing.

Should Rafa return to complete health and fitness by the time the French Open rolls around, you'd have to think he'd be the clear favorite for the title once more.



He has won seven of the past eight Grand Slams held at Roland Garros and has the best clay-court r...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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