6 most injury prone men's tennis players in recent times

Injuries are something which are inevitable and can completely destroy a talented player's career. We have seen many a budding new prospect or someone reaching the top of the world rankings after a lot of hard work, only to see his career get plagued by injuries. Some of these players keep coming back from injuries to win tournaments, while others cannot play at the same level again. Here is a list of the most injury prone players in men's tennis.

#6 Robin Soderling

Robin Soderling, the man who stunned Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at the 2009 French Open has been out of action for over three years now.

He remains to be the only player to have defeated Nadal in the French Open. He reached the finals that year. Soderling reached a second successive French Open final in 2010. Following injuries and illness, Söderling has not competed since the 2011 Swedish Open in July 2011, at which time he was ranked number 5 in the world.

It is quite unfortunate to see someone which such great talent not being able to play for such a long time. He has recoverd from his illness now and he has stated that he is planning to make a comeback in 2015.

#5 Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas's career was interrupted by injuries after reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 2 in May 2002. He has twice dropped out of the world rankings due to being unable to play for twelve months.

His first period of injury saw him miss the whole of the 2003 season, and he did not return to the world's top 10 until 2007. He also missed over a year's tennis between February 2010 and June 2011, but has since returned to play on the tour. He returned to World No. 11 in 2013 after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open for the first time in his career.

Haas is one of the few players to have reached the quarter-final stage of each of the Grand Slams. He missed a lot of the 2014 season as well as he underwent a surgery on his shoulder. He will make a comeback at the Australian Open in 2015, aged 37.

#4 Brian Baker

Brian Baker is one of the most unfortunate players, as his career has completely been eaten up by injuries. He showed promise early on in his career when he rose to World no. 2 in singles in the junior world rankings and reached the French Open Junior finals where he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka.

His was ranked 172 in the world in 2005, but in 2007, he was sidelined for nearly six years after five surgeries—three on his hip, one on his elbow, and one sports hernia—and did not play on the tour again until 2011.

He returned to professional tennis in 2011 and hit a purple patch in 2012, where after a host of good results he ended the year ranked 62 in the world. His injuries came back to haunt him in 2013, where he was sidelined for over six months. He withdrew from the Australian Open earlier this year citing a knee injury and has not played since.

Will he be able to make another comeback? Let's wait and watch.

#3 Kei Nishikori

Kei Nishikori has broken a lot of records this year as he became the first Asian to ever reach a Grand Slam singles final ( U.S Open 2014) and qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals

He had a chance to win a couple of other tournaments in the year, but was forced to withdraw due to leg and back injuries. Injuries troubled the Asian No. 1 in 2009 as well. He was on course to defeat Nadal for the Mutua Madrid Open this year, but had to withdraw during the final set.

He has shown a lot of promise in 2014 and must concentrate on his fitness to have a strong season next year.

#2 Juan Martin Del Potro

The 26-year-old Argentinian rose to prominence after his famous U.S Open 2009 win over Roger Federer. He was seen as a strong contender against the likes of Rafael, Nadal,Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. However, he suffered a string of injuries post his first Grand Slam win.

The biggest injury he suffered came at the beginning of this year when he had to undergo a surgery for an injury on his wrist which kept him out of most of the tournaments this year. He is still in rehabilitation at the moment.

He will be looking to return to action in 2015.

#1 Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal has won 14 Grand Slams in his career so far. He could have added more to that list if he did not suffer from injuries.

He had to withdraw from five Grand Slams and a lot of ATP events during the course of his career. He missed the 2006 Australian Open with a foot injury and Wimbledon in 2009 with a knee injury. For three years running, Nadal has missed a major tournament. In 2012, he missed the U.S. Open with a knee injury, missed the 2013 Australian Open with an illness and now the 2014 U.S. Open due to a wrist injury.

Will Nadal be able to recover from his injuries and come back to the top? It is going to be really tough for the Spaniard, but you cannot rule him out yet!