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Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday before his semifinal against his longtime rival, Roger Federer. The Spaniard cited right knee pain as the cause of his withdrawal.
"As I said yesterday after the match, I felt something had gone to the knee," said Nadal. "I wanted to do my best to be competitive today, I warmed up today and I figured my knee was not good enough to compete at that level." I need to compete, to participate in the semi-finals of this event. "
Nadal had to face Federer for the 39th time in their historic rivalry with FedEx ATP Head2Head. Before his injury, he had a dominant week at Indian Wells, reaching the semi-finals without losing a set. The Majorcan native defeated Jared Donaldson, Diego Schwartzman, Filip Krajinovic and Karen Khachanov to qualify for his first semifinal of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament since 2016.
"For me, it's not just today, it's about all it means for me to have to participate in a tournament that I love so much, and in the semifinals after playing well during the tournament, imagine that I can not be happy, so that's all, sometimes it's hard and it can be frustrating for me to get through it all. "
The world No. 2 holds a record of 11-2 this year, also reaching the final at the Australian Open and the second round at Acapulco.
.@Rafael Nadal he's withdrawn from the tournament due to a right knee injury. We wish Rafa a speedy recovery.
Roger Federer qualifies for the final walk.# BNPPO19 pic.twitter.com/XXahjOyOXn
– BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 16, 2019
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