Rafael Nadal's bid to win the ATP Miami Masters title for the first time suffered a setback Monday when he failed to finish a workout after an ankle injury scare.
A spokesman for the Spanish star tweeted: “Rafael Nadal felt earlier today and didn’t finish the practice. It looks like his ankle is OK however we will see how things evolve.”
Second seed Nadal, a four-time Miami runner-up, is coming off a run to the quarter-finals at Indian Wells, where he lost to Canada’s Milos Raonic.
World No 3 Nadal will have a first-round bye in this week’s start to the Masters 1000 event and open against the winner between Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky and Spain’s Nicolas Almagro, with ninth-ranked Czech Tomas Berdych a potential quarter-final foe.
Nadal lost to current world No 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the 2011 and 2014 Miami finals, Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko in the 2008 championship match and Swiss star Roger Federer in the 2005 title showdown.
Nadal also announced on Monday he will start his bid to win a third Wimbledon title by returning to the grass-court tournament at Queen’s Club later this year.
Nadal, a 14-time grand slam champion, has reached the Wimbledon final in each of the five years he played at Queen’s, but UK tax laws forced him to turn his back on the West London event.
The 28-year-old Spaniard had instead prepared for Wimbledon by playing in Germany at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle in recent years.
Since his last visit to Queen’s in 2011, Nadal has failed to get past the fourth round at the All England Club and the former world No 1, who last won Wimbledon in 2010, has decided to return after a three-year absence.
“I’m very happy to be back,” said Nadal, who won the Queen’s title in 2008.
“Queen’s is a great event, I always enjoyed it. I had some great feelings there, the atmosphere of the Club – a real tennis club – is very special, the courts are unbelievable.
“I enjoyed Halle but the results have not been perfect for me in Halle, so I want to try Queen’s again where the grass courts are a little bit more similar to Wimbledon. That’s the reason for my decision.”
Former Wimbledon winner Andy Murray, defending Queen’s champion Grigor Dimitrov and 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka are among the leading players already confirmed to appear at the event in June.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
