Rafael Nadal pulled out of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday night time, a day earlier than he was presupposed to play his first official match in two months.
Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, posted the information on social media, writing that he was saying the withdrawal “with nice unhappiness.”
“It isn’t a straightforward choice, it is a robust one as a matter of truth, however I am unable to mislead myself and mislead the hundreds of followers,” Nadal mentioned in a press release launched by the match.
The 37-year-old from Spain missed almost all of final season due to a hip damage that required surgical procedure, then briefly returned to motion for 3 matches in early January earlier than tearing a muscle close to the hip. That compelled him to bypass the Australian Open – and he has not been on tour since.
Nadal had come to the California desert nicely forward of the hard-court match to arrange for his return to motion in what he has mentioned could possibly be his last 12 months as an expert. He left to go to Las Vegas, the place he performed an exhibition match in opposition to Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday, earlier than going again to Indian Wells.
He was scheduled to face 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic within the first spherical Thursday night time – Sumit Nagal, who misplaced in qualifying, took the empty spot within the bracket – however now the world will wait to search out out when it subsequent will get an opportunity to observe Nadal compete.
“I’ve been working exhausting and practising and also you all know I took a take a look at this weekend,” Nadal mentioned, “however I do not discover myself able to play on the highest degree at such an essential occasion.”
He has completed nearly all the things there’s to perform in tennis, together with all the main championships, the Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles, 92 tour-level singles titles in all, greater than 1,000 match wins and greater than $130 million in prize cash, to talk nothing of endorsements.
However virtually because the second he damage his hip flexor throughout a second-round loss on the 2023 Australian Open, Nadal has indicated he isn’t able to stroll away from the game he dominated for stretches alongside rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
He has been notably concerned with returning to his beloved French Open, which he has received a document 14 instances, and making one final look at a Summer time Recreations – this 12 months’s version is in Paris, with tennis hosted by Roland Garros.
