Tennis: Nadal exit boost for Murray

Published on Saturday 20 June 2009 11:25

ANDY MURRAY has a real chance of reaching the Wimbledon final following the withdrawal of top seed and defending champion Rafa Nadal.

Nadal pulled out of this year's tournament last night after failing to shake off tendonitis in his knees.

The injury has plagued the Spaniard for years but has got progressively worse over the last few weeks.

The problem forced the 23-year-old to withdraw from the Queen's tournament earlier this month and after two exhibition matches this week, the world No.1 admitted he was in no state to defend his title.

The tournament's top seed was due to open his defence of the title against France's Arnaud Clement but, while Nadal accepted that he could not commit himself to the championship over two weeks, he did suggest Murray now had an advantage.

"He is in a good position. He won Queen's, he is number three in the world and he is a very good player," said Nadal.

"But I don't think he is thinking about the semi-final or final. He is thinking about the first round."

Nadal admitted that deciding to pull out of the tournament was "one of the worst moments of his career". He said: "I am not 100 per cent. I don't feel I am ready to approach a tournament as important as Wimbledon."