A foot injury has forced Rafael Nadal out of the US Open, the last major on the Grand Slam calendar. The Spaniards, who had also missed the Wimbledon Championships and the Olympics, on Friday said that he would not play any competitive game this year.
Nadal has taken a long break to nurse a nagging foot injury. He has been out of action since his French Open semi-finals.
“I am very sorry to announce that I won’t be able to keep playing tennis during the 2021 season,” Nadal said in a video he posted on social media.
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“But as you know, I have been suffering too much with my foot for the last year now and I missed a lot of important events for me.” The 35-year-old Nadal said the pain from a chronic foot problem he has been battling most of his career is too much.
“During the last year I was not able to practice and prepare the way I need to be competitive at the standards I want to be,” he said.
“The injury is nothing new. It is the same injury I am having since 2005. In that moment the doctors were very negative about my future career, but honestly I was able to have a career I was unable to ever dream about, so I am confident I will recover again.” Nadal insisted that he is “going to fight every single day” because he is convinced that he still has “a couple of beautiful years” left in his career. Nadal has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, tied with Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Nadal, a former No. 1 player, is currently ranked fourth. He has won two tournaments this year, on clay in Barcelona and Rome.
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