Rafa Nadal will play in this week’s Shanghai Masters despite being diagnosed with appendicitis which will require a surgery, the world no.2 said yesterday.

The Spaniard went to hospital on Sunday after complaining of stomach pains and was given antibiotics which seem to have worked as the 28-year-old, after two days of resting in his hotel room, had a 45-minute practice at the Qizhong Tennis Centre.

“I was in hospital on Sunday,” said Nadal who begins his Shanghai campaign against compatriot Feliciano Lopez today.

“Yesterday the nurse came to my room to give me the treatment again. Today I was at the hospital in the morning again and I had the antibiotics. It seems like everything is under control now.

“I’m not going to go for surgery. That’s great news. That’s why I’m here practising for 45 minutes and trying to play tomorrow.

“The positive thing is I am feeling better today. Yesterday I felt a little bit better than the day before. I hope tomorrow I will feel better than today.”

Nadal said he would consult his doctors back in Mallorca before deciding when to remove his appendix.

“I have to talk with my doctors when I get back home. It is true that the doctor here told me that (eventually) I have to take it out.

“Because when you have it once, the normal thing is that it is going to come back. Sooner or later I have to take it out.”