Sound in Mind... and Hopefully Body

It's official - Rafa Nadal will be returning to the court at Montreal in his first match since his rather ignominious (though understandable) loss to Robin Soderling at Roland Garros. And talk about pressure - um, yeah, Rafa, you're the defending champion. Deal with that.

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So here's the question - which way is Rafa going to go?

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The way I see it, it's going to be purely physical. Either the Nadal knees are better, or they're not. Either they're fixed, or they're f*cked. The only thing that stands between Rafa and a new blaze of glory is the same thing that stands between his brain and the ground - his body.

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Well, and Roger Federer, but that's the same for everyone.

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What I'm getting at, though, is that I don't think there's a chance in hell that Rafa is going to be let down by his mind. We have seen too often and too well just how tough Rafa is in the head to ever underestimate him on that score. Mentally, Rafa is a machine - anyone who can play through the excruciating amounts of pain he was is a little superhuman. In that sense, I think we're going to see the same ol' Rafa. He's not going to be affected by losing the #1 ranking or by the streak that the great one RF is one. Rafa does his own thing and in his own mind, he is tough.

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So it all comes down to the body. Rafa Nadal has the mind of a gladiator - will his body rise to the task?

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Today's Results

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Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington)

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Benjamin Becker def. Robby Ginepri, 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-4)

Rainer Schuettler def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7-5)

Sebastien de Chaunac def. Denis Istomin, 6-3 7-6 (9-7)

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Nicolas Lapentti, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-0

Somdev Devvarman def. Marin Cilic, 7-5 6-4

Tommy Haas def. Frank Dancevic, 6-1 4-6 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Yen-hsun Lu, 4-6 6-3 6-2

Somdev Devvarman def. Marin Cilic, 7-5 6-4

Tomas Berdych def. Ernests Gulbis, 6-2 7-6 (8-6)

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LA Women's Tennis Championships (Los Angeles)

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Daniela Hantuchova def. Melanie Oudin, 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-2

Jie Zheng def. Olga Savchuk, 7-5 1-6 6-2

Samantha Stosur def. Monica Niculescu, 6-1 6-2

Maria Kirilenko def. Chanelle Scheepers, 4-6 6-3 6-1

Sorana Cirstea def. Michelle Larcher de Brito, 6-4 7-5

Ekaterina Makarova def. Melinda Czink, 3-6 6-4 6-1

Sabine Lisicki def. Kimiko Date Krumm, 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 7-5

Urszula Radwanska def. Julie Coin, 6-1 6-2

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 7-5 7-5

Na Li def. Ayumi Morita, 6-0 2-0 retired

Vera Zvonareva def. Peng Shuai, 3-6 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Ana Ivanovic def. Vania King, 6-4 4-6 6-1