Nadal withdraws from Beijing and Shanghai after knee injury
Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the China Open and the Shanghai Masters as he looks to recover fully from his knee injury suffered at the US Open, according to a report on Sky Sports.
Nadal pulled out of the US Open during his semi-final match with Juan Martin del Potro after hurting his knee and the Spaniard does not want to risk making the injury worse.
The current world number one will miss out on 1100 points in the ATP world rankings which has handed rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer a great chance to make up ground on him.
Nadal is the defending champion in Beijing after winning against Nick Kyrgios in the final last year, whilst he finished as the runner-up in Shanghai after losing to Federer.
Nadal said:
As you know, I had to retire in the semi-final of the US Open and this Monday I went to Barcelona to see the doctors and find out more about the state of my knee.
It still causes me troubles and I had decided together with my medical and technical team not to participate in the Asian Tour in order to recover the knee the way we have always done in the past.
I’m sorry for not being able to be with so many fans in China and with the organizers of the Beijing and Shanghai tournaments that have always been nice to me and my team.
Djokovic is the favourite to end the year as the number one after finding some terrific form, starting at Wimbledon.