New Wimbledon champion Rafa Nadal has withdrawn from this week's Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart where he is the Defending champion. Rafa is in great need of a break after playing non-stop for the last 5 months.

Rafa suffered a knee injury while playing at Wimbledon in his third-round win against Mikhail Youzhny and in order to prevent any further complications he has taken his doctor's advice to stop playing and rest for a bit.

The Spanish star flew to Germany to apologise in person to tournament organisers and expressed his regret at missing the competition."This was the least I can do. I'm disappointed that I can't play," said Rafa."The calendar is hard on us players, I have played four, five months without a break. I have to recover."Organisers hope to introduce a later start date next year, creating a longer break after the Wimbledon final.

Rafa, who also won the 'French Open' for a fourth consecutive year, will now have a few days rest as doctors examine the injury to establish an exact diagnosis, before he confirms his schedule.

With the US Open looking on August 25, Rafa will want to make sure he is in peak fitness for the hard court event where he will look to improve his performance.