Former world number one Rafael Nadal has once again canceled participation in a tennis tournament due to physical problems, fueling speculation that his career will soon end. The 37-year-old Spaniard officially announced that he would not take part in the Masters in Monte Carlo.
“Unfortunately I have to announce that I will not be playing in Monte Carlo. My body simply doesn’t allow it,” wrote the 22-time Grand Slam winner on X, the former Twitter.
Nadal canceled all tournament participation after the Australian Open in January 2023 due to a long-term hip injury. This year, the Spaniard made his comeback before the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in Brisbane, but was injured again there and has not played a match since. “Even if I work hard every day and make the maximum progress with all my desire to play and compete again in tournaments that are important to me, the truth is that I cannot play today,” Nadal wrote.
When he made his debut in the clay court season at the Masters in Monte Carlo, which began on Saturday, the Spaniard wanted to take aim at the French Open, which he has won 14 times and where he missed last year for the first time since 2005. He has to accept the situation and try to look into the immediate future “without losing the tension and the will to play, to give myself a chance for things to get better.”
