Nadal Pulls Out of Croatia Open


Reuters
July 25th, 2005


ZAGREB (Reuters) - French Open champion Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Croatia Open Monday less than 24 hours after winning his eighth claycourt title of the year.

The Spaniard, who has become the youngest player in more than a decade to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup, aggravated a knee injury during Sunday's Mercedes Cup final victory.

"I have had problems with my right knee, tendentious. By itself, it's not so serious but could become so if I go playing from one tournament to another without rest," Nadal told reporters in Umag, the venue of Croatia's only ATP tournament.

"I am really sorry for not playing here where there are so many top players."

The knee, however, did not prevent the 19-year-old from joining world number one Roger Federer as the only two players to have qualified so far for the elite eight-man Masters Cup finale in Shanghai.

"For me it's a dream. Now I'm among the eight best players in the world, which is very important to me," Nadal said in a statement after climbing to a career-best second in the world rankings."

Nadal produced another stellar performance in Stuttgart, where he defeated Gaston Gaudio 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

The win improved his 2005 claycourt record to 48-2 and extended his winning streak on the surface to 34.

Nadal, who in June became the first debutante since Mats Wilander in 1982 to win the men's singles crown at Roland Garros, is second in the ATP Race, more than 250 points clear of third-placed American Andy Roddick.

The Mallorcan, the youngest qualifier for the year-ending event since Andrei Medvedev in 1993, is only the third teen-ager -- after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg -- to reach second in the world rankings since the system was introduced in 1973.

The top seven players in the ATP 2005 Race plus eligible grand slam champions qualify for the eight-man round-robin event from November 13-20.


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