Nadal injury threatens Olympic title defence

Tennis : Rafael Nadal will go into London 2012 under cooked following the reoccurrence of his chronic knee injury

Tennis: Rafael Nadal will go into London 2012 under cooked following the reoccurrence of his chronic knee injury. The world number two has been told to take 15 days rest after seeing doctors earlier this week. Tendinitis has been an issue with Nadal for the last number of years.

“The doctors have been checking my knee and I suffer from tendinitis which will have me away from any practice or matches for 15 days, which makes it impossible to play with Novak Djokovic as we'd expected and announced,” said Nadal who had scheduled a charity exhibition game which organisers which they had hoped would set a record attendance for a tennis match. The record was set last year when 35,681 fans watched Serena Williams play Kim Clijsters in Brussels.

“I was with my doctors on Monday and started already my treatment with the goal to be ready for the London Olympic Games and represent Spain once again. I will now work on my rehab as well as taking some short holidays and resume my practice in 15 days."

He has now stopped completely in the hope of being fit again and back to training sessions before the games begin. Nadal is the defending Olympic Champion as he won the gold medal in 2008 in Beijing. The tournament, which is being held at Wimbledon, begins on Saturday July 28th.