5 top tennis players who are suffering from burnout

#2. Rafael Nadal

Rafa has taken too many long breaks this year

The King of Clay came to international prominence through his near invincible performances in clay court for nearly a decade before having injury struggles in mid-2014. In his prime, Nadal was one of the most dangerous players on tour and formed a fierce rivalry with the great Roger Federer with the duo being a part of many great matches including the 2008 Wimbledon final which has been considered by many experts and analysts to be the greatest tennis match ever.However, in the past couple of years, Nadal hasn’t been the same player he was during the late 2000s, and his continuous injury struggles justify the fact that he has all but lost his killer instinct.

After having issues with his wrist till the clay-court season of the ATP World Tour, Nadal put in a promising performance at the Rio Olympics where he came fourth. However, following the tournament, Nadal’s lack of form continued as he failed to live up to expectations in the tournaments that followed before announcing that he will take no further part in 2016 due to the same wrist injury, a couple of months after Federer announced he won’t be playing any further in 2016.Nadal has previously had problems with his wrist but he has not taken as many long breaks before, as he has this year. Injury cannot be the only reason why he is doing so. Being regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all-time, Nadal has always had to deal with the pressure of expectation and this time it may have led to a burnout. However, Rafa is known to come back strong from such setbacks and any tennis fanatic would want to see him at his inevitable best in 2017.