25th February, 2013
Rafael Nadal will test his troublesome left knee again this week at the Mexico Open, then decide if he’ll brave the first Masters Series event of the year on the hard courts of Indian Wells.
Spain’s 11-time Grand Slam champion will conclude a three-tournament Latin American comeback tour in Acapulco, playing in his third ATP clay court tournament in four weeks.
He came back from an injury layoff of seven months to reach the final in Vina del Mar, Chile, and followed up by winning the title in Sao Paulo on 18 February.
In Brazil he needed just 78 minutes to beat Argentina’s David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-3 in the title match.
But the 26-year-old says he still feels intermittent pain in his left knee and could yet opt out of the hard court tournament at Indian Wells, where men’s main draw play begins on March 7.
Nadal is a two-time champion at the BNP Paribas Open in the California desert east of Los Angeles.
That tournament is immediately followed by the Masters Series event in Miami where he has never won.