Rafael Nadal finally gave out while trying to defend his third straight clay court title in Rome. He lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero but at least he showed up.

When we watch a tennis match, usually we’re watching it blind. What I mean is that we may have no idea whether the player is physically hurting or not. Yes, the player is out there on the court, but what ailments is he suffering and is it a small niggling problem or a big problem that’s making it hard for him to play?

If this was baseball or football, the injury report would have made its way across the blogosphere and sports radio shows and newspapers. Commentators would be discussing it on the telecast of the game. But the tennis world isn’t like that. As we watched Juan Carlos Ferrero dismantle Rafael Nadal, it looked like Ferrero was playing the match of his life. He hit behind Rafa and he attacked his forehand whenever he got a short ball and he kept his level up throughout the entire match.

But maybe he knew something we didn’t know. He might not have known that Rafa had such pain in his foot that he could barely put his foot on the ground the morning he flew to Rome. And he probably didn’t know that Rafa thought it would be impossible to play when he woke up this morning. He might have known that Rafa went to the doctor today, as he did yesterday, and had his foot taped up and anesthetized with topical cream because things do get around the locker room.

But we didn’t know anything and the commentators didn’t know anything and this is how it looked to us. Early on, Rafa looked alright. Ferrero hit a low slice on Rafa’s serve at 2-1 in the first set and Rafa managed to run around it and hit a wicked angle on a forehand winner. Rafa’s return of serve was a bit inconsistent but he was getting to drop shots.

Rafa gave up three break points for Ferrero to get to 5-4 and that was unusual but, you know, it happens. And right about that time, the commentators noted that Ferrero is really taking the game to Rafa and pushing him further behind the baseline. Two games later, Rafa hit a crosscourt forehand wide that gave Ferrero a set point. Again, unusual, but Rafa is known for hanging in tough games. Then Rafa hit some short shots and Ferrero took the game and first set and now we’re thinking that Rafa is finally wearing down from defending his third straight clay court title.

As the second set continued and Rafa started hitting more and more errors and found himself down a break at 1-4, we said that it looks like he’d run out of gas but, still, you can never count him out. Then we saw the foot.

Most tennis players have ugly feet and Rafa’s foot looked no different as it was propped up on the bench getting treatments from the trainer. First there was the topical anesthetic, then the felt ring to keep pressure off the sore area on the ball of the foot, then the roll of tape to lessen the soreness from friction, but it didn’t help. Rafa didn’t win another game as Ferrero won the match 7-5, 6-1.

If we’d known about the foot, we’d have known that Rafa was hitting balls short because he couldn’t plant his foot without pain. We might still have marveled at Ferrero’s play because it’s not easy to go against an injured opponent and it’s very easy for your mind to start thinking about the fact that you’re about to beat someone who’s almost unbeatable on clay and we all know what happens when the mind gets too involved. But we wouldn’t have said that it’s the best match we’ve ever seen Ferrero play.

Why did Rafa play this tournament if his foot was in that condition? He played it because he wants to be the number one player in the world and he had a Masters title and all the points that come with it to defend.

Why did Rafa play out the match instead of retiring at 1-4 in the second set? He played on to give Ferrero the opportunity to be the focus of the match.

I feel a bit like an old fogy because respectful sports behavior in the form of playing out a match when you’re ailing is fast becoming a thing of the past. I might just have to get over it. Rafa is old school whereas Novak Djokovic is what’s happening now. Djokovic retired in the second set of his semifinal match with Roger Federer at Monte Carlo because he had a sore throat.

True, it turned out that Djokovic had strep throat, but your throat doesn’t get sore from being dragged across the tennis court, unlike a foot, and it’s unlikely his throat would have suffered much more if he’d played three more games. There was also a psychological message to it. Djokovic was not going to give Federer an earnest victory, he was going to walk off the court to show that Federer didn’t beat him, the sore throat did.

Ferrero deserves credit for the victory and Rafa deserves credit for showing up and playing. That’s two old school players and I like that.