Roger Federer Regrets Rafael Nadal Withdrawal
22 June 2009
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Roger Federer has revealed his disappointment at the withdrawal of world number one Rafael Nadal from Wimbledon.
The pair have battled it out for the last three finals at SW19, with Nadal finally getting the better of Federer last year in a five set thriller, which saw the Spaniard win the Wimbledon title for the very first time.
However Nadal has been forced to pull out of the competition due to a knee injury that has plagued him since the French Open.
Speaking to the BBC Federer, now the favourite once again rule at SW19, said: "I'd love to play him. He's my main rival."
"We've had some wonderful matches over the years, including last year, so that we can't repeat that is obviously sad."
Nadal crashed out of the French Open in the fourth round, despite being the red hot favourite to defend his title at Roland Garros.
The world number one pulled out of the Queen’s tournament in London, where he was also defending champion, to travel to Barcelona to receive treatment on his knees. He was diagnosed with tendonitis as well as fluid on the kneecap.
Despite battling to get fit he was a shadow of his former self at the Hurlingham Club at the end of last where he played two exhibition matches to see how the injury was progressing.
And Federer admitted that his withdrawal didn’t come as a shock: We had a 10 second chat. He congratulated me for Paris and I asked him how his knee was. He was like, 'it's OK'. So I kind of knew it wasn't great, because he's very honest to me. So I knew that something could be coming up.
"I heard he was going to have a press conference on Friday and I guess I was slightly prepared that he wouldn't play, so then it doesn't come as such a big surprise. “
Nadal was scheduled to open play on Centre Court tomorrow as the defending champion, which will now fall to Federer who also becomes the top seed.
He will face Yen-Hsun Lu in his opening match.
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