Remember When February Was Supposed To Be Dull?

I was really looking forward to my month off from blogging as tennis is usually quite dull, still suffering from the post-Aussie Open hangover. Foiled again by Nadal!

That's right Nadal made his return last week from a seven-month hiatus at Viña del Mar, an ATP 250 tourney, on his beloved clay surface in both singles and doubles with Juan Monaco, and things were going quite smoothly until he ran into the stalwart grinder we all recognize as Horacio Zeballos. And while I will neither confirm nor deny that I knew of Zeballos' existence on tour until a few days ago, I'm quite shocked he managed to spoil the King of Clay's welcome back party.

Nadal looked quite good in his matches leading up to the final (although he did say he was still experiencing minor knee pains during the event) and I really couldn't tell you what happened to him against Zeballos, but I yelled in surprise when I saw this picture on Twitter:

Don't get used to this image.

Nadal and Pico ended up losing in the doubles finals as well. All in all, I'm sure Rafa is both encouraged and disappointed by this week, but it seems like mostly good news. We'll see whether he gears himself up for the spring U.S. hard court Masters or save himself for the Euro-clay season. Best of luck, Rafa! We've all missed you...well, all except Andy Murray.

Any thoughts on Nadal's season to come? Will he keep up with his Big 4 brethren? Doha is up for the ladies with the #1 ranking up for grabs yet again! Sure to be another exciting week. In February, of all months. Who knew?

(edit: almost forgot, Rafa's Welcome Back Tour rolls on this week at São Paulo where he'll once again be in the singles and doubles draw (with David Nalbandian)! Be sure to keep tabs!)