MADRID: Champion Rafael Nadal will do all he can to fix problems with his knees and be fit to defend his Wimbledon title this month, he said on Tuesday after tests at a clinic in Barcelona.
The world No 1 was forced out of this week's traditional Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Queen's Club with tendinitis and said he faced two tough weeks of recuperation before Wimbledon gets underway on June 22.
"I will give 200 percent to be at 100 percent for the most important date in world tennis and the tournament that has always excited me the most," the Spaniard said in a statement.
"I have been playing with pain in my knees for several months and personally I cannot continue like this," he added.
"The pain was limiting me physically in certain movements which meant I was also suffering mentally. I will not take to any court, and certainly not the Wimbledon center court, unless I know I am 100 percent."
After his shock defeat to Robin Soderling at the French Open nine days ago, Nadal said he had been advised to rest by doctors and pulled out of Queen's in London, where he was also defending champion.
He said he would have physiotherapy in the coming days and Spanish tennis federation (RFET) doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro said the treatment would include anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle work.
Tennis calendar
Nadal has blamed his injury problems on what he calls the overloaded tennis calendar and last season missed the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai and Spain's Davis Cup victory over Argentina.
"I only wish him the best and I hope it's not true that he will miss Wimbledon," French Open champion Roger Federer told journalists on Monday.
"He wasn't taping his knees here in Paris. He seemed fine, (from) what I saw, anyway. I've played him so many times, I can tell when he's in pain and when he's not." World No 4 Novak Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in last year's Queen's Club final, said he hoped the Spaniard would be back for Wimbledon.
"It would be a pity for the tournament not to have the defending champion and the world No 1 there. Let's hope he can recover," Djokovic told reporters at the Halle Open in Germany.
Reuters