World No. 1 Nadal withdraws from Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai due to knee injury

After injuring his right knee during last week’s quarterfinal match against Nikolay Davydenko at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal has officially withdrawn from the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. Taking his place will be talented Frenchman Gilles Simon, who won titles this year in Bucharest, Casablanca and Indianapolis, while also reaching the finals at the recent Masters Series Madrid.

Through a written statement released on Monday, Nadal said: “I have decided not to compete on the Masters Cup in Shanghai...This is one of the most difficult decisions in my career due to the importance of the event and above all, due to the fact of not making possible my will to be with the fans in China and the tournament organizers that always treated me in such special way. “I am deeply saddened and disappointed for my fans around the world that expected to see me in Shanghai fighting in every match. I do expect to be there again in October '09 for the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Shanghai.”

The 22-year-old Spaniard played his way to a marvelous season in which he won eight singles titles including winning his fourth straight French Open, his first Wimbledon title, Masters Series titles in Monte Carlo, Hamburg and Toronto, an Olympic gold medal in Beijing and titles in Barcelona and at Queen’s Club in London. Nadal surpassed Roger Federer as the No. 1 player in the world in August and is guaranteed to end the year as the top-ranked player after the Swiss legend held the top spot at years-end for the last four years. Nadal finishes the 2008 season with an impressive 82-11 record, while winning $6,773,773 in tournament prize money.