Nadal Withdraws From Miami Semi-final

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Sony Ericsson Open prior to his semi-final clash with 2009 Miami champion Andy Murray. The Spaniard cited a left knee injury on Friday in a press conference.

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Nadal 'Not Ready To Compete'

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Sony Ericsson Open prior to his semi-final clash with 2009 Miami champion Andy Murray. The Spaniard cited a left knee injury on Friday in a press conference.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Nadal withdraws from Miami semi with knee injury

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP)â€"Rafael Nadal has withdrawn two hours before the start of his semifinal Friday at the Sony Ericsson Open because of a left knee injury that has bothered him in recent matches.

With his withdrawal, 2009 champion Andy Murray advanced to Sunday’s final. He’ll play the winner of Friday night’s match between top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 21-seeded Juan Monaco.

Nadal has had knee problems in recent years, and his left knee has bothered him since Indian Wells. He lost there to Roger Federer in the semifinals two weeks ago.

Nadal took a medical timeout for treatment of his knee during a fourth-round victory at Key Biscayne and said afterward he was in less-than-perfect health. The 10-time Grand Slam champion had hoped to claim his first Key Biscayne title.

Fish: Too many slow surfaces everywhere

Mardy Fish, who lost to Juan Monaco, 6-1, 6-3, in the Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinals yesterday, said that the conditions were slow, which has become a trend on tour.

"This surface is extremely slow. I would love just to have a couple tournaments that are quicker surfaces," Fish said. "It's not necessarily the surface per se but the balls. The balls get so big and so fluffy even after a warm-up that for an attacking, fast-court type player, it's extremely hard to play those guys. Sometimes you have to execute almost every shot.  You have to execute big time to beat those guys  playing on the slower surfaces.

"Indian Wells is extremely slow with the balls, especially at night when we play there. It's two different tournaments: during the day and during the night. Australia is extremely slow. Wimbledon's balls are unbelievably heavy.It's hard to find fast surfaces these days that I can get away with, and the first two that jump out are Montreal and Cincinnati. I don't think it was necessarily a coincidence of my results there, because I'm a fast court player. There's just not many surfaces like it anymore."

Radwanska's dad goes from coach to tourist

Agnieszka Radwanska says that no longer having her father as full-time traveling coach has given a boost to her game. Last July while in California, Radwanska asked her father to go home and she hired Polish Fed Cup captain Tomasz Wiktorowski full time. Her father is at the Sony Ericsson Open with her, but is not coaching her. Since Radwanska relieved her father of full-time coaching duties, she has won four WTA Premier hard court titles and has reached the Miami final for the first time. 

"My dad is also here but is like a tourist," No. 4 Radwanska told reporters. "But when I'm practicing, doing everything with Tomasz. It's good and nice just to separate those things like being a father, being a coach. But at home I'm still practicing with my dad.  So is not a really big change, to be honest…My dad was traveling with me all my life and we practice together for 17 years, almost actually 18. I'm 23 already.  So it's pretty long time.  It's always tough to change after those kind of times. But I think it's working, and he's happy that I'm playing well.  So I think this is the most important thing."

Heleno, Brazil’s first brilliant badboy

Heleno de Freitas was an outstanding marksman and controversy machine in equal measure – so much that his story has been made into a movie. FIFA.com recalls the career of the Botafogo legend.

Alguersuari, Pirelli team up for testing

Displaced driver Jaime Alguersuari has been named as Pirelli’s newest test/development driver for 2012. The Italian tire maker and sole supplier for Formula One has recently received approval from the teams to utilize a 2010 Renault F1 chassis for the testing at Jerez, Spa, Monza and Barcelona over the summer. Alguersuari said: “I’m very happy indeed

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