Rafael Nadal will not play his scheduled doubles match at the Brazil Open because of "knee overuse," organisers said. But they said the Spanish star intends to play his opening singles match against Brazilian Joao Souza
World No 5 Nadal had been scheduled to team up with Argentina’s David Nalbandian in a second-round encounter against Argentine Horacio Zeballos and Oliver Marach of Austria. Former World No 1 Nadal only returned to the tour in Chile last week, where he lost in the final, after a seven-month injury absence.
“Nadal thought it was preferable to stay in his hotel and prepare for his singles match tomorrow,” a Brazil Open spokesman told AFP.
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Rafael Nadal
“He discussed the issue with Nalbandian and the two agreed not to play the doubles. It was a joint decision,” he added.
Nalbandian said the conditions were “very difficult.”
“The court is not in the best condition and the ball is very difficult to control,” he added.
Nadal had complained at a press conference on Tuesday about having to play so many hard court events.
While conceding that reducing the number of events on hard surface was not possible at this time, Nadal added: “I think that the ATP has to work to think of how to lengthen tennis players’ careers.”
“Can you imagine football players playing on cement?” he asked.
Asked when he expected to be 100 percent fit, Nadal said: “I cannot know the future.”
“If my knee allows, I will do everything possible to be at my best,” he added.
The 11-time grand slam champion, who lost both the singles and doubles finals at his comeback event in Vina del Mar, Chile, is the top seed at this week’s event here.u00a0
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