Fri, Feb 10 2012

Nadal's withdrawal clears path for Federer's fifth Masters Cup title in Shanghai

Tue, Nov 04 2008 14:47 CET

byPetar Kostadinov

441 Views

Rafael Nadal, the world number one in men's tennis, has announced in a statement posted on his website on November 3 that he would miss the Masters Cup in Shanghai. Nadal cited fatigue as the reason why he was pulling out of the tournament and the time he needed to prepare for the Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina, scheduled for November 21-23.

Nadal said it was one of the most difficult and painful decisions he has ever made in his professional career.

"It has been a long and difficult year where I managed to obtain great results, both on a professional and on a personal level. I have mentioned in various occasions that the tennis calendar has been extremely hard with practically every single week playing," the statement read.

"This forces us players to put pressure on our bodies, making it impossible for a top level player to be 100 per cent at each event."

His replacement in the draw in Shanghai is Frenchman Gilles Simon. The draw is scheduled for November 5.

Nadal's fierce rival and world nubmer two Roger Federer will taking part in the tournament. In the Spaniard's absence, Federer is the favourite to win his fifth Masters Cup title, having triumphed in the tournament in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

  • Print
  • Send via email
  • Translate to
  • Share:

To post comments, please, Login or Register.


Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.

More in this category

Berba back?

Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov says he could reconsider international retirement.

Poland’s National Stadium not yet ready to hold football match

The Super Cup – a special game between Poland champion Wisla Krakow and Polish Cup winner Legia Warsaw was to be the first football event scheduled to take place at the venue.

Super Bowl XLVI features Giants-Patriots rematch

In 2012, the Giants are again the underdogs, after finishing the regular season with a 9-7 record and barely qualifying for the playoffs, compared with the Patriots' 13-3 record.

Turning heads

Czech 'dunking ninja' impresses peers during rookie campaign.

Olympic rights

Bulgaria's public broadcaster faces difficult road to securing broadcasting rights for Sochi and Rio Games.

© 2000-2012, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.