Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the National Bank Open in Toronto after failing to make headway with his recovery from the foot injury that has blighted his summer campaign.
Nadal suffered the injury at the French Open, where he was seen limping to a car the day after his semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic, and subsequently pulled out of Wimbledon and the Olympics.
The Spaniard returned to action at last week’s Citi Open in Washington but aggravated the injury in his opening match against Jack Sock, a gruelling three-hour contest in which he repeatedly hobbled away from rallies in the deciding set. Nadal lost to South Africa’s Lloyd Harris in the next round, but said afterwards that the injury had felt much improved.
He is famously averse to using injury as an explanation for defeat, however, and how much that verdict owed to a desire not to take anything from Harris is unclear. Nadal, the world No 4, had nevertheless been optimistic about stepping up his comeback in Toronto, where he would have been the defending champion at an event that was not held last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have had this issue for a couple of months,” said Nadal, who has won the title five times. “It is not a happy situation, after all the success that I had here in Canada, not be able to play this year after missing a year.
“It’s a tough one, but that’s how it is today. I need to go back and try to find a way to be better again. At the end of the day, for me the most important thing is to enjoy playing tennis. Today, with this pain, I am not able to enjoy, and I really don’t believe that I have chances to fight for the things that I really need to fight [for].
“I wanted to try, even like this. I went to Washington. I tried hard there. People who follow tennis, watched on TV, [knew] I was suffering, especially in that first match. And I was suffering in the practices, too, but you always expect an improvement, or you hope for improvement, and that’s why I came here.
“This improvement didn’t happen, so I really believe that I am not able to compete at the level that I need, because the foot won’t allow me to move the way that I need.”
Nadal must now be regarded as a doubt for next week’s Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, from which Djokovic has already withdrawn citing “a physically taxing journey from the Australian Open up to Tokyo”. Roger Federer, who missed the Olympics after suffering “a setback” with his knee, pulled out of both Toronto and Cincinnati.
With the US Open less than three weeks away, it seeks likely that all three men will be undercooked in terms of competitive play when – and if – they arrive in New York. Djokovic, the world No 1, will be aiming to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar year grand slam at Flushing Meadows. The trio are level on 20 majors each.
Asked about his post-Toronto plans, Nadal was reluctant to look beyond the immediate. “The main thing now is I’m not able to play here, something that I feel bad for. I really wanted to play here a lot, but now is the moment to take a decision, and that’s unfortunately the decision that I took. Probably in the next couple of days we’re going to know more.”