Rafael Nadal forced to skip Asian swing due to knee injury

ATP Tour
Rafael Nadal anguish

World No 1 Rafael Nadal won’t travel to Asia next month after being advised to rest his troublesome knee.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner was forced to retire from his US Open semi-final against Juan Martin del Potro a fortnight ago due to tendinitis in his right knee and he has decided to sit out the Asian tour.

“I had to retire from the semi-finals of the U.S. Open and this past Monday I was with doctors in Barcelona to review the situation with my knee,” he wrote on Twitter.

“While my knee problems are nothing new, I have decided together with my medical and technical team not to participate in the Asian tour to recover.”

It means he will miss the China Open and the Shanghai Masters and it also boosts Novak Djokovic’s hopes of reclaiming top spot in the world rankings.

Nadal leads the rankings with 8,760 points while Roger Federer (6,900) is second and Djokovic is third with 6,445 points, but the Serb doesn’t have any points to defend during the Asian swing as he missed the backend of the 2017 season due to injury.

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