By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: Chang Photography

(July 19, 2012) -- To witness Rafael Nadal in his prime (think way, way back to six weeks ago) is on par with witnessing a fine-tuned racehorse running effortlessly to glory. Picture dirt flying every which way as the courageous beast digs its heels in for another giant, earth-rumbling stride, its awe-inspiring sinew expanding beneath a glimmering coat of chestnut. That's the kind of image that Rafael Nadal's tennis game evokes. He's a beast of burden on the tennis court--muscles rippling, sweat pouring from his brow--and it works for him.

Oh, how it works for him.

But it also works against him, as we've seen time and time again.

The type of smash-mouth tennis Nadal plays exacts a heavy price on that muscular frame of his, and, as much as he'd like to be feathery and graceful like Federer, or able to twist into a soft pretzel on the court as does Djokovic, the fact of the matter is that Nadal is not capable of playing anything other than the high-intensity, high-threshold tennis that has become his calling card over the course of his career.

Such fury and such all-out, no-holds-barred intensity is a beautiful thing to see, and it has enabled Nadal to win eleven Grand Slams by the age of 26.

But it’s also placed incredible strain on his joints--particularly his knees, but also the feet, the hamstrings, the abdomen--and we have the doctor’s notes to prove it.

In 2009, when a 23-year-old Nadal famously pulled out of Wimbledon due to -- you guessed it -- knee problems and became only the fourth man in Open Era history not to attempt to defend tennis's most prestigious title, many speculated about his long-term future in the sport.

Those who doubted his ability to recover and to utterly dominate the game as he did in 2010, were proven wrong, just as those who doubt him today, as he struggles to get his body right so that his mind can be right, will likely be wrong.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be roadblocks along the way, or that Nadal and his team’s role in the management of his health aren’t of the utmost importance during times like these.

One false move, after all, and his career really could be over. Many a player has tried to play through pain only to find that the body tends to break down even more completely when doing so. Favor the knee and put extra pressure on the hip. As the hip deteriorates, the arm takes on extra strain during the swing: it’s a never-ending catastrophe, and avoiding falling into that trap is precisely why Nadal often times has to make extremely tough decisions like he did today.

There are a lot of similarities between the way Nadal handled his knee problems in 2009 and the knee problems he’s encountered this season (he‘s always been forthright about his condition and he‘s always had a heightened perception of his bodies‘ sensations), but more importantly, there is a greater sense of intuition being exercised by Nadal and his team this time around

The good news for Nadal fans, and for tennis in general, is that Nadal is not willing to jeopardize his long-term plans for the sake of one event, however important it may seem at the time.

He’s also unwilling to put himself out there to be shredded by his competition when he’s not at 100 percent, as the psychological implications of losing could be as catastrophic as his knee problems down the road.  

While reactionaries might jump to the conclusion that Nadal's shocking withdrawal from the 2012 Olympics portends a disastrous state of affairs for the Spaniard, the reality--or "the true" as Nadal would say--is that Nadal's long-term future has probably gotten brighter today.

Nadal's willingness to address his physical issues, and his unwillingness to risk his long-term viability by going on a mad quest for more titles, prove that he is indeed committed to the long haul.

In other words, the sky is not falling for Nadal--it's just a little cloudy.

He may miss a few tournaments, but the important thing from Nadal’s perspective is that he takes the necessary precautions to put himself in position to win more of the big tournaments.

As sad as his exclusion from this year’s Olympics is, the overriding good news is that Nadal and his camp are extremely aware of their unique situation. Right now, the only solution is to get fit. The tennis can wait.

And if Nadal gets sad during the Olympics, he can always pull out his gold medal and put it around his neck for a while.