Nadal ponders a mystery knee problem

Jan 16, 2012, 10:31 GMT

Melbourne - Rafael Nadal scored an apparently effortless firs-round win at the Australian open on Monday, defeating Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, but revealed later that a freak knee mishap almost prevented him from taking to the court.

The world number two, who fought a shoulder injury in December, said that he needed hours of treatment on Sunday after what he called the strangest physical incident he has ever experienced.

'I was sitting on a chair in the hotel and I felt like a crack on the knee, but nothing really strange. I stood up and felt a little strange in the knee,' he said.

'I moved the leg two times and it gave an unbelievable pain (while completely straight). I had no movement on the knee.'

The 2009 Melbourne winner said that he spent Sunday afternoon at Melbourne Park getting treatment and rehab.

'Yesterday evening I wasn't hundred percent sure I would be able to play, I thought without movement in the knee I could not. But I did a lot of treatment and the MRI was positive,' Nadal said.

Nadal said he spent Monday in treatment and admittedly started with timidity in the match.

'I was nervous because I was really disappointed yesterday. But after the first 10 games, I started to play normally,' he said.

Nadal cold make no predictions about any future matches, but added: 'The best thing is that I felt the knee very well. I'm really happy that today I was ready to play and I played a fantastic match.

'I'm really confident that having the worst feeling that I ever had in my knee yesterday and today was able to play. I have fantastic hope that it's gonna be the same for the next match.'

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