Nadal: I’ll give 200 per cent to be fit for Wimbledon
WORLD No1 Rafael Nadal admitted yesterday he faces a battle to recover from a knee injury in time to defend his Wimbledon title.
Nadal pulled out of this week’s Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club because of the problem, which tests have revealed to be tendonitis in both kneecaps. The Spaniard has little more than two weeks to get fit for the grand slam but underlined his determination to compete at SW19.
“I am going to give 200 per cent to be ready for the most important tournament in the world, the tournament that I always dream about,” said Nadal. “I will not go out and play, especially on the Wimbledon Centre Court, if I am not 100 per cent ready to play.”
The normally robust Nadal showed signs of physical frailty when his five-year unbeaten run at the French Open was ended last month by eventual runner-up Robin Soderling. And the 23-year-old admits he had been suffering long before Roland Garros.
“I have been playing with pain in my knees for some months now and I simply can’t go on like this,” Nadal said. “The pain was limiting certain movements in my body, which affected me mentally as well.”
The six-time grand slam winner is hoping that a combination of rest, physiotherapy and medical treatment will heal the injury in time to travel to London on Tuesday. However, Nadal will arrive without having swung a racket in more than a fortnight.
He added: “I have two difficult weeks ahead of me, especially because I won’t be doing what I like doing most, which is to play tennis, but I will be working on my recovery through physiotherapy treatments as well as recovery work on the specific muscular area.”