sad about nadal

let's be clear. i don't like how nadal plays. all brute force, all the time. i'm a federer fan and like most diehard tennis fans dream of playing the way federer plays. to borrow from soccer, federer is brazil, nadal is germany -- only a lot better.

that said, i'm downtrodden over nadal not playing. first, i think it's only fitting that fed win his 15th major and break the all-time record by beating the player who has dominated him over the last couple years. and what better way for fed to break the record but winning a dramatic final like last year's?

but there's non-federer related reasons as well. nadal's the second-best player i've ever seen -- and it's not close. that includes sampras, agassi, mcenroe, connors, becker, edberg, and wilander. i know nadal doesn't have the career accomplishments to back it up, but that's not what i'm saying. his absence is a huge hole.

this one's not so positive tho. i'm disappointed in him. i didn't see the exhibitions that he played against hewitt and wawrinka but everything i read said he looked noticeably diminished. i don't doubt that. but tho he lost both matches, he was competitive and the fact that he even took these exhibitions indicated it was a close decision whether or not to play in wimbledon. if that's the case, he should have skipped the exhibitions, taken the extra five or so days to rest and try to defend his title. unless it was possible that he was going to do lasting damage to his knees by playing, i'm a little disappointed in rafa.

still, i hope he's back soon.