Joke about Nadal injury creates confusion during virtual tourney

For a short time, it appeared Rafael Nadal had become the first superstar in sports to suffer a video game-related injury during the coronavirus lockdown.

The 19-time Grand Slam winner was scheduled to take on YouTuber and gamer DjMaRiiO as part of a virtual Madrid Open charity event Monday, but tournament director Feliciano Lopez stated that a back injury during the event had forced Nadal to postpone the match.

"We had Rafa, but I think he had an issue on his back today, I think he was injured, so he requested to play (again) tomorrow," Lopez said, according to Eurosport's Carrie Dunn.

However, Lopez later clarified that he was kidding about the injury.

Nadal beat Canada's Denis Shapovalov 4-3 (3) in the group stage earlier Monday.

The virtual tournament is running from April 27-30 and taking place at the Manolo Santana Stadium in the Tennis World Tour video game.