Spanish tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz have canceled their participation in the clay court tournament in Monte Carlo.
The 36-year-old Nadal announced that he will not be able to compete in the Masters 1000 from April 8-16 due to the consequences of a long-term injury. “I’m still not ready to play at the highest level,” Nadal wrote on Twitter. “I can’t take part in one of the most important tournaments of my career.”
Nadal suffered a hip flexor and groin muscle injury at the Australian Open. The 22-time Grand Slam tournament winner is still suffering from the consequences. Most recently, Nadal slipped out of the top ten in the world rankings for the first time in 18 years. Nadal wrote about his cancellation that he was continuing his preparations in the hope of a quick return.
A little later, Alcaraz also announced his Monte Carlo exit for health reasons. The 19-year-old former world number one wrote on Twitter that he had post-traumatic arthritis in his left hand and muscle problems in his spine that needed rest to prepare for whatever was to come.
The shooting star of the tennis scene lost the semifinals at the Masters tournament in Miami (USA) last Saturday against the Italian Jannik Sinner. With this defeat, Alcaraz lost his lead in the world rankings to the Serbian Novak Djokovic and slipped to second place.
After two months on the road to competitions, he is happy to be back home, but sad because he ended his semi-final game in pain. In Murcia he had a medical examination and after the evaluation of the findings decided that he could not play in the clay court tournament in Monte Carlo. “Black Tuesday for Spain’s tennis” was the headline in the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”.
