Rafael Nadal has announced his withdrawal from next week’s ATP 500 event in Rotterdam due to a back injury.
The Spaniard’s back problems have started since before the Australian Open which he managed to play the tournament in Melbourne with the problem.
Eventually Nadal lost in his Australian Open quarter-final to Stefanos Tsitsipas from 2 sets to love up.
Despite playing in Melbourne, Nadal’s back problems continue to derail his schedule as he has now withdrawn from Rotterdam.
In a statement on Twitter, Nadal said that after consulting his doctor it was not the best idea to play Rotterdam.
“It is with great sadness that I have to forfeit from Rotterdam. As most of the fans know, I suffered back problems in Australia that started in Adelaide and continued in Melbourne,” Nadal said.
“We found a temporary solution that allowed me to play without pain in the second week of the tournament. Once I got back to Spain I visited my doctor and together with my team they’ve advised not to play this upcoming week.”
Nadal’s 10 year hiatus from the tournament continues as he looks to recover from the problem as soon as possible.
The 20-time grand slam champion’s main priority will be the clay-court swing where he can win a record-breaking 21st grand slam title.
Nadal’s next scheduled tournament will be the Miami Masters in late-March.
Meanwhile Nadal could now lose his world number two ranking next week as the top seed which is now Daniil Medvedev could replace him there.
The recent Australian Open finalist will need to reach the final if he wants to become the world number two but will face stiff competition in Holland from the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Milos Raonic.
The tournament will start on the 1st of March.
