Tennis:Rafael Nadal has declared himself fit to resume the defence of his Wimbledon title against Mardy Fish tomorrow. The Spaniard suffered an injury to his left foot during the first set of his 3-1 fourth-round win over Juan Martin Del Potro yesterday, saying afterwards that a "crushed" bone could end his tournament prematurely.
But after having an MRI scan late last night, the 25-year-old has been passed fit to play and will put his injury to the test on the practice courts this afternoon.
In a statement released today, he said: “Good morning everybody. Yesterday after the match I went to take an MRI at a London hospital. During the match I thought I had something serious but as the match went through the pain got better and thankfully the tests don’t show an injury.
“Today I will practice at 4.30pm and I’ll play tomorrow. Thanks all for the support.”
In a gruelling four-hour encounter, the top seed went close to retiring hurt near the end of the first set after suffering an injury to his left foot while hitting a routine forehand.
He spent a 10-minute period of treatment shaking his head but, after having tape applied to the affected area to redirect the pain, he scrapped on with the injury to take a 7-6 (8/6) 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 victory. Nadal will face Fish in the last eight tomorrow and then possibly Andy Murray in the semi-finals.