Spanish professional tennis player who is also currently ranked world No. 2, Rafael Nadal is going to face the odds and play in Shanghai despite suffering from appendicitis.
Nadal will be his game on antibiotics hoping that it will control his appendicitis so that he can survive the Shanghai Masters this week.
Nadal felt pain in his abdomen late last Saturday in which went to the hospital the day after to have it checked where he the found out that he had early stages of appendicitis.
According to Nadal, he chose to take antibiotics rather than go to surgery right away and that he said that he is feeling well enough to start playing.
He said "I am not going to go for surgery. That's great news for me today. That's why I'm here practicing for 45 minutes, and trying to play tomorrow. But obviously I am not in my best condition."
He also said "The positive thing is I am feeling better today than yesterday. Yesterday I felt a little bit better than the day before. I hope tomorrow I will feel better than today. That's why I want to try. I am in Shanghai. I am here to play a tournament. If I don't play, I don't have the possibility to win. So that's it."
But he is also not taking risk on his health as he will make arrangements with his doctor once he gets back to Spain to further study whether he would need to have his appendix removed.
He said "My idea is take it out, but you can imagine that I didn't (think) much about that yet. I am here in Shanghai. I just want to try. Then when I go back home, I will talk about the situation with my doctor."
This is just Nadal's second tournament since returning from a two-month layoff due to a wrist injury. After missing a couple of tournament, Nadal said that it was crucial for him to get back on the court as soon as possible so he's back in top form before the Australian Open this coming January. He reached the China Open quarterfinals last week.
"I don't expect anything from these two tournaments. I expect just to come here and play again and practice and feel a little bit again the competition, try to get in rhythm as soon as possible."
