Nadal Is Back To Number One, But He Worries About His Knees

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 7th October 2013

Nadal Is Back To Number One, But He Worries About His Knees

epa03898831 Rafael Nadal of Spain in action against Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles finals at the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China, 06 October 2013. EPA/ADRIAN BRADSHAW |

Rafael Nadal has risen back to the world no.1 ranking for the first since July 4, 2011, regardless of the constant pain issues he experiences with his knees. However the Spaniard is concerned he might not be able to give his best in this week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Despite reclaiming top spot, Nadal was beaten by the man he usurped, Novak Djokovic in yesterday’s China Open final in Beijing. And he admitted he began experiencing pain in the left knee during Friday’s quarterfinal win over Italian Fabio Fognini.

Fortunately for Nadal the semi-final against Tomas Berdych was a short-lived affair because the Czech was forced to withdraw after just six games after suffering a back spasm. But Nadal was nowhere near his US Open winning hard court best as he lost out 6-3, 6-4 to Djokovic and admitted it. Nadal insisted Djokovic, unbeaten in ATP World Tour matches in Beijing, was just too strong for him. “I didn’t play my best match this afternoon, but he played at a very high level.

Of far more importance to the organizers of the Shanghai Masters 1000 series event was Nadal’s admission: ““I hope to be ready for Shanghai. But it’s a very tough tournament to play, no? Because from the beginning you need to play against the best players.”

Nadal’s draw affords him a first round bye and then he will play either Alexandr Dolgopolov or American qualifier Michael Russell with the likes of Tokyo winner Juan Martin Del Potro, the on-form Milos Raonic, Stanislas Wawrinka and John Isner positioned in his half of the draw. He should have some time to rest up the knee but he admitted in Beijing: “When something happens in a place that is sensitive for me, you get scared, first thing.

“Second thing, I felt pain at the beginning. I don’t feel comfortable with my movements for all the match, but it’s true that I improved during the match. I finished the match with a little bit more confidence on my movements than what I had during the first set and almost two sets. But I really hope that it’s only a bad movement.”

Nadal insisted he was in pain against Fognini from the outset and continued: “When something happened like this in the first point in the match, your knee, the memory stays there and is very difficult to be 100% focused on the match because you are thinking about if I really did a bad movement or not.

“I didn’t feel power on the knee when I was running to the balls for long time in the match, but what’s very positive is I really was feeling better and better during the match. So if something very bad happening, going to be the opposite.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Atp World Tour, China Open, Fabio Fognini, John Isner, Juan Martin Del Potro, Michael Russell, milos raonic, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych