Knee injury forces Nadal to pull out of Paris Masters

World number one Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Paris Masters on Friday with a knee injury less than two hours before his quarter-final against Filip Krajinovic. There was a hint that all was not well with the Spaniard when he played with a strap around his right knee on Thursday night during his three set victory over Pablo Cuevas.

Rafael Nadal has never won the Päris Masters and pulled out of the 2017 tournament before his last eight clash with Filip Krajinovic. Reuters/Charles Platiau

"On Thursday night the pain was very strong but it was not the moment to stop," Nadal said.

"I had treatment after the match against Pablo to try to be able to play on Friday. But unfortunately it is impossible for me to return to the court.”

On Wednesday Nadal swept past Hyeon Chung in straight sets to reach the last 16 and secure the end of year world number one slot for the fourth time in his career. The 31-year-old is the oldest man to enjoy the status since the rankings were computerised in August 1973.

"I had a long year, a lot of matches. I pushed the body," Nadal added.

"We are at the end of the season. It's normal that these kind of things happen. The knee is always, you know, bothering a little bit, but sometimes it's worse, and now is a little bit worse."

Nadal said he would assess his fitness before deciding his participation at the eight man ATP World Tour finals which start in London on 12 November.

"I'm going to do my treatment and do my best to be playing in London,” said Nadal. "For me it's not about London. For me it's about longer term.

"And longer term I'm going to do the treatment I believe that is going to be more safe and more important to keep playing tennis as long as possible."

Krajinovic, 25, who had never been past the second round of a Masters tournament before, progresses to his first ATP semi-final of the season against ninth seed John Isner who beat the 13^th seed Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 4-6 6-4.

"I did not expect this at all,” said Krajinovic, who is ranked at 77 in the world. “I was ready to play but then I heard Nadal had pulled out. It would have been a good opportunity for me to play against the world number one. It’s everybody’s goal to play against this kind of player. That’s why you practice. But obviously I’m happy to be in the semis.”