World number one Rafael Nadal admitted on Friday that a knee injury means he cannot guarantee he will play in the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Nadal is due to play Belgium’s David Goffin in his first match at the tournament on Monday but told reporters during a pre-tournament news conference that his knee might not hold up, although he did stress that he is doing everything he can to play and that if everything goes to plan he will face Goffin.

The Spaniard was forced to pull out of the Paris Masters last month with the injury but tournament organizers, as well as fans with tickets for Monday’s sessions, will be praying the world’s top tennis player will be healthy enough to feature.

Also speaking at the press conference was his great rival Roger Federer, who spoke about his resurgence this year, in which he won two Grand Slam titles and his happiness at playing again at the ATP Finals after missing most of 2016 through injury.

Federer also said that a proposal to trim the number of seeds at a Grand Slam from 32 to 16 was a positive move, but the Swiss were less impressed with the new format tried out at the NextGen ATP Finals, which featured amongst other changes shorter sets and a shot clock, saying that he felt the game did not need changing.

Several big names are missing at this year’s finals through injury including 2016 winner Andy Murray, four-times London winner Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka.

Reuters