Rafael Nadal says he suffered a right knee injury while sitting in a chair on Sunday and was nearly forced to pull out of the Australian Open. The Spaniard and world No. 2 did manage to play and beat American Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in the first round on Monday. Nadal played with a heavy strap on his knee. He said an MRI revealed no damage.
"Yesterday afternoon happened the [most] strange thing ever happen to me," he told reporters. "I was sitting on a chair in the hotel. I felt like a crack on the knee, but is nothing really strange. Happens lot of time with articulation, movement, articulation. Nothing strange. I stand up. I felt the knee a little bit strange. I moved the leg two times to try to find the feeling. After the second time, the knee stays with an unbelievable pain completely straight. I have no movement on the knee. I had a hard afternoon. And seriously, yesterday during the evening I wasn't 100 percent sure I would have chance to play, because with the movement of that knee I felt that I will not be able to play. I did a lot of treatment...Finally what happened is with the movement, articulation, probably pinch maybe the tendon little bit or something that put the tendon completely straight. We did a lot of work during the evening. At the end of the night with a lot of pain, but I finally really had the full movement of the knee. I woke up today with a little bit better feeling. I started the match with a little bit of scare at the beginning, and nervous. But after the first 10 games that was scare, I started to play with normal conditions. The best thing is I felt the knee very well."
The Spaniard added that he did take a lot of anti-inflammatory medication and is pretty sure he will be able to play in the second round.
"I am really confident that having the worst feeling that I ever had in my knee yesterday and today was able to play," he said. "I have fantastic hope that gonna happen the same for after tomorrow."