World number one Rafael Nadal will miss Spain's Davis Cup final against Argentina this month after failing to recover from tendinitis in his knee.

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal reacts during a press conference in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. Rafael Nadal will miss Spain's Davis Cup final against Argentina because of a knee injury. The top-ranked Nadal said yesterday he's still struggling with tendinitis in his right knee.

Nadal said it had been an extremely difficult decision and he had done everything possible to get fit.

"I am used to playing with pain but this was a new and different pain I cannot control," he said in a statement on his website (www.rafaelnadal.com).

The injury forced Nadal to pull out of the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai which began on Sunday and he also had to retire from his Paris Masters quarter-final against Nikolay Davydenko last month.

The Spanish tennis federation is expected to name its team today for the tie in Mar del Plata from Nov. 21-23.

The French Open and Wimbledon champion has previously blamed his injury on an overloaded tennis calendar.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily November 11, 2008)