Nadal declares himself fit to face Mardy Fish

(GETTY IMAGES)

Rafael Nadal has declared himself fit to resume the defence of his Wimbledon title against Mardy Fish tomorrow.

The Spaniard suffered an injury to his left foot during the first set of his 3-1 fourth-round win over Juan Martin Del Potro yesterday, saying afterwards that a "crushed" bone could end his tournament prematurely.

But after having an MRI scan late last night, the 25-year-old has been passed fit to play and will put his injury to the test on the practice courts this afternoon.

In a statement released on his Facebook page, he said: "Good morning everybody. Yesterday after the match I went to take an MRI at a London hospital.

"During the match I thought I had something serious but as the match went through the pain got better and thankfully the tests don't show an injury.

"Today I will practice at 4.30pm and I'll play tomorrow. Thanks all for the support."

Nadal's positive outlook came as a stark contrast to his mood yesterday.

After what was a bruising and gruelling four-hour, four-set encounter on Centre Court, the top seed admitted he came close to retiring hurt near the end of the first set after suffering the injury while hitting a routine forehand.

He spent a 10-minute period of treatment shaking his head but, after having tape applied to the affected area to redirect the pain, he scrapped on with the injury take a 7-6 (8/6) 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 victory.

"I don't know, I have to check," he said when he was asked about his condition last night.

"I have to go to do an MRI. I don't know right now. I felt really bad during the first set. At 6-5 I felt terrible. I felt that I had broken my foot. The point at deuce and the point that gave me set point, I felt terrible.

"I asked for the trainer at that moment when the game was done. I seriously didn't know at that moment if I had a chance to continue playing.

"At 6-5, I pushed hard with the forehand and I felt like something crushed, there in the back of the outside of the foot."

Nadal has suffered with injury problems before, most notably when his long-standing knee complaints forced him to abandon the defence of his 2008 Wimbledon title.