Rafael Nadal Had Stomach Illness During His Fish Match

Written by: Staff on 21st November 2011

Rafael Nadal Had Stomach Illness During His Fish Match

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Mardy Fish from the USA during their group B match of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at O2 Arena in London, Britain, 20 November 2011. EPA/ROGER PARKER |

Rafael Nadal expects to be fully fit after a stomach upset struck during his three-hour epic win over Mardy Fish which began the Spaniard’s campaign at the World Tour Finals. “I feel not very well now, no? I really need to come back to hotel and rest a little bit because I played for one hour suffering a lot,” Nadal said after gutting through 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).

The No. 2 will need to be on full form when he plays Roger Federer in Group B showdown. Nadal is competing for the first time in a month and a half after poor form in Shanghai.

Nadal said he struggled in the third set against Fish, “When you don’t feel well, you have to keep running, all the muscles are more tired than usual. But, I was there, that’s a positive thing. I was mentally there all the time until the end.

“That gives me victory in he first match, and a lot of confidence. For sure an important victory to try to be in the Saturday semi-finals.”

Nadal could not guess as what in his British diet might have contributed to his problem. “I just ate some pasta before the match. For the lunch, I had some pasta with salmon at the hotel. So nothing strange and nothing unusual.

“During the match, start to feel something halfway through the second set, it got really worse in the beginning of the third.”

“DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”

Topics: Mardy Fish, Rafael Nadal