More Bad News From Team Rafa

The really horrible news started earlier this month with his Wimbledon withdrawal and now Davis Cup. Rafael Nadal will not play in Spain’s Davis Cup quarterfinal against Germany, which takes place from July 10 through July 12. The pull out is due to his ongoing battle with tendinitis in both of his knees.

In his absence, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer and Feliciano will take on Team Germany, which will include Philipp Kohlschreiber, Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev and Andreas Beck.

The injury is now wrecking havoc on his career. The Spaniard was at the top of his career from the French Open 2008 until this year’s Barcelona tournament. The problem revealed itself after his epic semifinal with Novak Djokovic in Madrid. He eventually won that match, but he was clearly out of gas by the final. His once great year went downhill from there up to now:

The news comes in the wake of comments made by leading tennis coach Sven Groeneveld, who said at the weekend that he has never known a player to be so badly afflicted with tendinitis at such a young age.

"I think he is quite a unique case," said the coach of Ana Ivanovic and Fernando Verdasco. "It's bad enough for him not to play and defend the title. It must be very, very hurtful, besides the pain in the knees."

Hopefully, he can take time off and overcome this setback. Otherwise, this could be another career cut short by injuries.

(Image: Andy Rain/EPA)