(Monte-Carlo) Rafael Nadal, still not recovered from a hip injury contracted in January during the Australian Open, announced on Friday his withdrawal from the ATP tournament in Barcelona which begins on Monday, after having already given up the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo where he hoped to make his return to competition.
“I don’t feel ready and I continue my preparation for my return to competition,” tweeted the 36-year-old Spaniard, currently 15th player in the world and whose presence at Roland-Garros at the end of May is growing. questioned.
“Barcelona is a special tournament for me because it’s my adoptive club and because playing at home is always a unique feeling,” said the player, who turns 37 on June 3.
At the twilight of his career, he hopes to celebrate his birthday at Roland-Garros (May 28-June 11) where he will aim for a 15th title to bring his record, currently co-held with Novak Djokovic, of Grand Slam titles to 23.
On April 4, he had already announced that he had to give up the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo, the first big tournament of the season on clay where he holds the record for eleven trophies.
The Mallorcan is training but has not played competitively since losing the second round of the Australian Open on January 18 to American Mackenzie McDonald in three sets.
He had felt a sharp pain in his hip in the second set, but went to the end of the match when he had the greatest difficulty in moving.
Nadal had then estimated between six and eight weeks the duration of his unavailability, drawing a line under the American Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
The Spaniard has been accumulating physical problems since his 14th coronation at Roland-Garros in the spring of 2022, where he triumphed despite an anesthetized left foot to contain the pain caused by the chronic illness he has suffered from since the age of 18 (syndrome of Muller-Weiss).
An abdominal tear in particular had then forced him to give up playing his semi-final at Wimbledon a month later.
His long absence from the courts took the former N.1 out of the top 10 of the world rankings on March 20, for the first time since April 2005.