Nadal pulls out of Paris Masters
World number one Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Paris Masters on Friday before his quarterfinal with a knee injury.
The Spaniard, who had his right knee strapped during his third-round win on Thursday, said he wanted to try and be ready to face Filip Krajinovic in the last eight but that "it wasn't possible to play".
He did not say if he would be fit to play at the World Tour Finals in London later this month.
"Yesterday (Thursday), the pain was very strong but it was not the moment to stop," Nadal told a press conference.
"I had treatment last night to try and be able to play today... But unfortunately it was impossible for me to return to the court in the same condition as last night. It is a sad day for me."
The 31-year-old became the oldest man to secure top spot in the end of season rankings when he beat Hyeon Chung in his opening match on Wednesday.
Nadal has fought back this year from a series of injuries, winning the French and US Open titles.
He missed the end of the 2012 season and the start of the following year with a left knee injury, and struggled with a wrist problem as he failed to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in 2015 and 2016.
But he allayed fears this fresh setback would lead to another lengthy spell on the sidelines.
"I had a long year, a lot of matches. I pushed the body," Nadal added. "We are at the end of the season. It's normal that these kind of things happen. The knee is always, you know, bothering a little bit, but sometimes it's worse, and now is a little bit worse."
If Nadal pulls out of the Tour Finals, it would leave Federer as the only member of the 'Big Four' in the year-ending event for the first time since 2005.
"I'm going to do my treatment, do my best to be playing in London, but I cannot talk about that now because (it) is a day that is tough enough for me to pull out from here," he said.
"For me it's not about London. For me it's about longer term. And longer term I'm going to do the treatment I believe that (is) going to be more safe and more important to keep playing tennis as long as possible."
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