Rafael Nadal withdraws from Basel with knee problem
World number one Rafa Nadal has withdrawn from the upcoming Basel indoors tournament due to a knee issue, the Spaniard has said.
With the ATP Finals coming up next month, Nadal said on his Facebook page he had made the decision to pull out of next week's Basel tournament after getting medical advice.
Nadal's 16-match winning streak was ended in the Shanghai Masters final on Sunday by world number two Roger Federer, who will now have the chance to make up some ground in the rankings chase.
"I sadly announce that I have to pull out of the Swiss Indoors Basel, after seeing my doctor in Spain just after landing from Shanghai," said Nadal on Tuesday.
"I am suffering from an overstressing of the knee and the problems where already present at the tournament in Shanghai which now forces me to take a time off on advice of my doctor."
Nadal, 31, leads Federer by 1,960 points in the rankings but the 36-year-old Swiss can gain 500 points if he wins at Basel with another 1,000 up for grabs at the Paris Masters.
Their battle for the year-end top spot could go down to the wire with the winner of the seasonending ATP Finals, which will be held from Nov. 12 to 19 in London, to receive up to 1,500 points.
Nadal and Federer have each won six titles this year, splitting the four grand slams between them.
Roger Federer, meanwhile, is poised to play in both Basel and Paris as he bids to finish as the world no.1.
Federer admitted after winning the Shanghai Masters that he was not sure what he needed to finish as the world No.1.
He said on live TV: “I don't even know what it takes to be honest!
“All I know is the World Tour Finals is a must, probably Paris too and Basel too so that all depends on how Rafa plays.
“It's a wild thought and that's why I'm not thinking about it at this point."
He is set to come up against the likes of Nick Kyrgios, Jack Sock, Juan Martin del Potro and David Goffin in Basel.
Mladenovic, Vandeweghe lose opening matches at Kremlin Cup
Top-seeded Kristina Mladenovic and No. 2 CoCo Vandeweghe lost their opening matches Wednesday at the Kremlin Cup.
Mladenovic landed only 49 percent of her first serves and was beaten by Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Vandeweghe lost to Lesia Tsurenko 7-5, 1-6, 6-2.
Mladenovic and Vandeweghe had received byes to the second round.
Fourth-seeded Anastasija Sevastova also lost. The Latvian was beaten by Irina-Camelia Begu 64, 6-3.
The upsets mean the highestranked player left in the tournament is No. 19 Elena Vesnina, who plays Natalia Vikhlyantseva later Wednesday.
Johanna Konta splits from coach, cuts short 2017 season
Johanna Konta has split from her coach and says she will not play in the remaining tennis tournaments this season while she recovers from a foot injury.
The British player started working with Wim Fissette ahead of the 2017 season, during which she won the Miami Open and reached the Wimbledon semifinals in July.
Konta said in a statement released Wednesday it was a "mutual decision" to split with Fissette and that she feels "very excited and optimistic about the future."
Konta has lost her last five matches. She missed out on a place in the WTA Finals in Singapore starting Monday.
The 10th-ranked Konta withdrew from the last two tournaments — last week's Hong Kong Open and this week's Kremlin Cup — because of her foot injury.