Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal announced Friday that he will miss the upcoming U.S. Open as well as the remainder of the 2021 tennis season because of a left foot injury.
“I am very sorry to announce that I will not be able to keep playing tennis during the 2021 season. But as you know I have been suffering too much with my foot for the past year,” Nadal said on Instagram. “I have missed a lot of important events for me like the U.S. Open now, like Wimbledon, like the Olympics and many other events that are so important and emotional for me.”
The injury flared up at the French Open, prompting Nadal to skip Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics in a bid to prepare himself for the U.S. Open. The world’s fourth-ranked player returned to play in Washington earlier this month, however elected to withdraw from Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and pull out of the Masters 1000 event in Toronto.
Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon, Olympics
“After coming back from Toronto, I took a couple of days to think about it. I needed to talk with my family, with my team and with my doctors especially to understand what is going on. But the foot is not the proper way today,” the 35-year-old Spaniard said. “During the past year I was not practicing and preparing myself the way that I need to to be competitive at the standards that I want to be, so we had to take that decision. But I am confident that I will recover 100 percent and I will be able to fight again for the most important things.
“The injury is nothing new. It is the same injury that I have had since 2005. In that moment, the doctors were very negative about my future career, but I was able to have a career that I never dreamed about. So I am confident that I will recover again the foot and if the foot is better, I am confident that my tennis and my mentality will be there again soon.”
Switzerland’s Roger Federer and defending champion Dominic Thiem of Austria also will not compete in the U.S. Open, which begins on Aug. 30.
–Field Level Media