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Rafael Nadal Reports Knees Feel "Perfect"
By Richard Pagliaro
Photo Credit: Zahed Khan
(March 10, 2010) INDIAN WELLS — Sound and flurry came to court at Indian Wells this morning.
Reigning BNP Paribas Open champion Rafael Nadal hit practice court A before 8 a.m. and proceeded to unleash a flurry of ferocious forehands for much of his practice.
While the sound of Nadal's trademark grunt reverberated around the court it was his legs that drew the most attention from most of the seven spectators standing behind the baseline.
The third-seeded Spaniard was not wearing any brace or taping on his legs and showed no signs of the right knee knee injury that has sidelined him since he retired from his Australian Open quarterfinal against Andy Murray, trailing 6-3, 7-6(4), 3-0.
Asked how his knees felt as he departed the court, Nadal paused and replied: "Perfect. Thank you."
Clad in a blue short-sleeve t-shirt and white shorts, Nadal wore a white baseball cap turned backward with his bull logo that is slightly reminiscent of the University of Texas Longhorns trademark logo emblazoned on the front of his cap.
The taping around his knees wasn't the only noticeable absence around Nadal. Uncle Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle, was not at this practice session and has not yet been seen on the the tournament site.
Nadal kept his eyes riveted on the ball for much of the practice, that consisted primarily of baseline rallies. He paused once to sit down and remove what appeared to be an eyelash from his left eye and took a brief break to wave to fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo and yell "Hi Tommy" as Robredo walked past on the nearby grass.
Several times, Nadal hunched over at the waist but those breaks did not appear to be out of fatigue. Nadal, who was not wearing the headband he wears during match play, often bent over and swiped the sweat from his face with the bottom of his blue shirt, exposing his ripped abdominal muscles to some appreciative fans.
For much of the final 20 minutes of practice, Nadal repeated a similar rally pattern: hitting his forehand much flatter and faster than he normally does he fired inside-out forehands directly at his right-handed opponents forehand until drawing a short ball that he smacked cross court to the right-hander's backhand.
As his practice partner continued to feed him shots down the middle, Nadal's lateral mobility was not really tested, but on a few occasions he surged forward and quickly caught up to slice shots and short balls.
When reigning women's champion Vera Zvonareva and her practice partner, Agnes Szavay, came out to claim the court, Nadal continued hammering away for another five minutes, apparently wanting to refine the feel of his forehand.
Satisfied, he sat down on the court-side bench, changed into an orange t-shirt and chatted with his team before exiting the court and stopping to sign autographs for a few young ball kids who were waiting.
The third-seeded Spaniard enjoys a favorable draw this week. Nadal, who has a first-round bye, opens against a qualifier and could face either 15th-seeded John Isner or 17th-seeded Californian Sam Querrey in the fourth round.
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