Are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Broken Down Beyond Repair?

A meniscus tear in the knee and now a sore back. These are minor injuries that Roger Federer is suffering from, minor issues that have knocked him out of the French Open. He announced Thursday that he’s skipping it next week, the first time he has missed a major this century.

Individually, Federer’s little injuries wouldn’t amount to much. But combined and on a players who’s 34? The Swiss star has been a miracle of health and fluidity for nearly two decades. But it turns out that even floating over a tennis court the way he does is eventually too much of a beating on a body.

The question about Federer is whether he’s going to win another major, whether he can recover fully from his minor problems.

Just nine months ago, Akash Kapur of the New Yorker wrote an article entitled, “Why Roger Federer hasn’t broken down.” But here’s the problem with that: He has. His body is broken now.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal will forever be linked to Federer, as they had the greatest individual rivalry in sports for so long. The Spaniard is said to be finding his confidence again.

Here’s the problem with that: His body is broken now, too. He lost his confidence because he couldn’t run down balls anymore because his knees are shot.

And these two guys who redefined levels of greatness in tennis are now redefining what it means to be old and broken down in sports. It isn’t about to happen; it has already happened.

“A lot of these medical issues are private,” said Dr. Mark Kovacs, PhD and manager of sport science for the United States Tennis Association. “So it ‘s hard to target exactly what (Federer and Nadal) have. But they have surgery for tendon problems and ligament problems. It’s very common. And healing times are reduced significantly from what they used to be. Achilles? People come back from that; that’s one of the most challenging ones. 

“Part of the reason players play longer now is that most injuries are fixable.”

Kovacs and Paul Lubbers, director of USTA tennis coaching education who also deals with sport science for the organization, talked with Bleacher Report this week about how players take advantage of science to find ways to play longer than they used to.

To be honest, I’ve thought at least three times over the past few years that Nadal was about done. In fact, one of those times was in January after the Australian Open. And now, suddenly, the 29-year-old is running fast again, which has allowed him to get to his shots, which has built is confidence.

Done? He looks like he’s back. Again. I’ll take him to win the French Open. Unless he gets hurt. Again.

“Federer has had injuries and then …

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