Rafael Nadal plans to delay his appendicitis surgery to allow him to compete at the ATP Tour Finals in London.
The world number two lost to Feliciano Lopez in the second round of the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday as he battled the injury that was diagnosed on Sunday.
Nadal has admitted that he needs to undergo the operation before the end of the year to avoid it hampering him in big tournaments at the beginning of next campaign, but is currently prepared to play through the pain and have the procedure after the season-ending event at the 02 Arena next month.
"Yes, I need to do the surgery," he told reporters. "I talked with the doctor in Spain. Is a lot of risk when [the inflammation] happens one time. Even if now is under control, is obvious going to come back.
"I don't want it to come back, to have the same thing when I am in Australia, when I am in Indian Wells or Miami or when I am in Roland Garros. So I going to do it before the end of the year.
"My feeling today, and my answer today honestly is I going to do it after the World Tour Finals," he said. "You never know. Depends how the things improve. I want to do it at the end of the year, not now."
Nadal undertook an aggressive course of antibiotics to allow him to compete in Shanghai, but was beaten by his Spanish compatriot.
Joe Fish
