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Rafael Nadal won’t add a 13th Barcelona Open trophy to his impressive CV this year as the 12-time champion has withdrawn from the ATP 500 tournament.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner has not hit a ball in anger on the ATP Tour since he suffered a hip injury during his second-round defeat at the Australian Open in January.
After initially eyeing a return to action at the Sunshine Double in March, he withdrew from both the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open as he was still struggling with the in hip problem. Next up was the Monte Carlo Masters, but last week he confirmed that he was still not ready to compete at the highest level.
And the Barcelona Open has become the latest tournament that Nadal won’t feature in as on Friday he confirmed that he is “still not prepared” for competitive tennis.
“Barcelona is a special tournament for me, because it’s my adopted club and because playing at home is always a unique feeling,” he wrote on social media. “I’m still not prepared and therefore I’m still in my preparation process for the return to competition.
“Good luck to my friend David Ferrer and his whole team for this edition of the Godó that will surely be a success as always on all levels.”
It is another major blow for Nadal’s French Open preparations as he realistically only has the ATP Masters 1000 double-header, the Madrid Open and Italian Open, as warm-up events in the lead-up to Roland Garros.
The Madrid event gets underway on April 24 while the Rome tournament starts on May 8.
Nadal, though, had a similar build-up to the 2022 French Open and he still went on to win a record-extending 14th title in Paris.
Last year he suffered from a rib injury and only played five matches on clay before the French Open, losing in the quarter-final in Madrid and the round of 16 in Paris.
However, he then produced another magical run at Roland Garros, including wins over Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final and Casper Ruud in the final, to lift yet another title.
The Spaniard has slipped to No 15 in the ATP Rankings and he could drop further down the rankings in the coming weeks, but he should still be ranked high enough to be seeded for Roland Garros.
Source:Tennis365