Nadal Pulls Out of Wimbledon 2009

No Double Header on Grass for Nadal This Year

After losing exhibition matches in the last couple days against Hewitt on Thursday and Wawrinka today (players he normally defeats fairly easily), Nadal has announced officially that he will not be competing at Wimbledon this year to defend his title. His knees, specifically his tendinitis, is simply giving him too much trouble. He would have also had to face a tough 2008 quarterfinalist, and hometown favorite - Arnaud Clement - in the first round.

As tough as it is to pull out, it could be a good long-term career move for him. A lot more time to recover, will reduce the risk of further worsening his knee injury, and may have a better shot at winning the U.S. Open and he would have had had he competed on grass. That begs the question: are we going to see two Career Grand Slams this year?

Two Career Grand Slams in One Year?

Federer clinched the long-awaited quote "Roger Slam" (a Career Grand Slam - in other words, a player winning all four majors - a Australian Open, the French Open (Roland Garros), Wimbledon, and the US Open) by winning the French Open this year - a feat that was in no doubt aided by Nadal's loss to Soderling in the fourth round.

While everyone is thinking and worrying about the fact that Nadal is not playing Wimbledon this year, here at Tales of Tennis we like to focus on the positives - namely, Rafael's chance to achieve a Career Grand Slam at the young age of 23. That, and the opportunity for Roger Federer to beat Pistol Pete's (Pete Sampras) all-time Grand Slam record of 14 majors (which Federer tide by winning the French Open earlier this month).

Federer Going for 15

This of course leaves the road open for Federer to lock in yet another grand slam. Winning one Wimbledon this year would give Federer his 15th major win, putting him at one ahead of Sampras, and giving him the all-time record (although we should point out that on the women's side Agassi's wife, Steffi Graf, holds 22 Grand Slam singles trophies).

Will Nadal Lose His Number One Ranking?

Nadal won't lose his numero uno spot right away, but he will lose a massive amount of points. And considering that he failed to defend his French Open points, it is now more than likely that, should Federer hold strong, Roger will take over the number one ranking again by year's end. What an interesting contrast to just a couple months ago, when we saw Federer losing in the early rounds of Masters series tournaments, and even smashing his racket into the ground (very un-Federesque!) for the first time in what anyone can remember.