Rafa Will Not Defend Wimbledon Title

Rafael Nadal has finally made the decision to pull out of Wimbledon. For the last couple of weeks, the Mallorcan had hoped to play, but his physical status kept him wavering. He played two exhibition matches – with Lleyton Hewitt and Stanislas Wawrinka – but lost both. His situation was always iffy at best. Nadal finally made the call and posted yesterday on his website:

I am not fit enough to play and as I said, I can't go on the centre court of Wimbledon if I am not 100% fit to play. The evolution of my knees are better, that's why I tried at Hurlingham, but I am not at the required level to play. As you can all imagine I am very disappointed, but I had to take this decision, one of the worst of my career.

As someone who is eternally grateful that Nadal is around, is such a great competitor and inspires other players to go for more, this news is terrible. The idea of Roger Federer going unchallenged at Wimbledon bores me to tears. Let’s hope Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic or someone else finds some inspiration to keep Federer honest in the upcoming fortnight.

As for Nadal, please get better so you can give 'em hell later in the season.

Here is the video of part of the press conference: