Here's the real reason why Nadal pulled out of Davis Cup opening match

Rafael Nadal is still recovering from a wrist injury which led to his pulling out of the opening singles tie at the last minute on Friday, according to Spain teammate Feliciano Lopez who exuded confidence that the multiple Grand Slam winner may turn up for the doubles in the Davis Cup World Group play-off against India here tomorrow.

The last moment pull out of Nadal might have disappointed the fans at the RK Khanna Stadium here but Lopez said the Spanish team was aware that he might not play today. "We knew during the week that I might play the tie instead of Rafa as he was not 100 per cent sure if he will be up to for the tie. We spoke last night about it and till the last moment he was not 100 per cent sure. So I had an idea so it was not bothering me," said Lopez, who turned up in place of Nadal and defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-1 to give Spain 1-0 lead over India in World Group play-off.

"Rafa has been struggling with his wrist for last 2-3 months, he did not want to take risk. We talked with the captain and decided it was the right decision that I should play. There is a good chance that he might play tomorow either with Marc or with me. Lopez made it clear that Nadal did not have an upset stomach but did not take the field in view of the wrist injury.

"Rafa is okay, nothing serious. He did not have any stomach upset. He was playing in the US Open with the same wrist issue. It is getting better and better but still it is sometimes painful. We still have two days of competition. So he might play one of these days," he added.

Talking about the match, the world No. 26 said: "I won two sets and then felt tired and lost the third but I was lucky to get an early break in the fourth. After that everything started getting easy for me. "The atmosphere is great here and it is a good feeling to play in front of a big crowd. They wanted Rafa to play and unfortunately for them, he was not playing. It is great for tennis such a great crowd." Heaping praise on Ramkumar, Lopez said: "He has a lot of potential and he can improve in many areas. He is a great guy with a big heart. He has been training in Spain and it is good for India to have a developing player like him."