Rafael Nadal confirmed that he will not play the Masters 1000 in Rome

Rafael Nadal announced that he will not play the Masters 1000 in Rome despite the fact that in the last hours the rumor had circulated that it could be in the Foro Italico.

Thus, the Spaniard, who has not competed for more than three months, He will continue preparing his return for Roland Garros: “Hello everyone! I am very sorry to announce that I will not be able to be in Rome. Everyone knows how much it hurts me to miss another one of the tournaments that have marked my professional and personal career for all the love and support of the Italian tifosi”.

Located in the 14th place in the ATP rankingon 2023 Rafa it has not been easy. His last appearance was in the second round of the Australian Openwhere he retired against Mackenzie McDonald for a grade 2 lesion in the iliopsoas of the left leg.

From his absence in the successive tournaments, the Manacorí He left the Top 10 in March after almost 18 years. Yeah, He was among the top ten on the circuit since April 25, 2005 without interruptionto set the elite record of 912 weeks.

Although he had in mind to be able to compete again in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and/or Madrid, in the end he could not be in any of the three, and he will not be in Rome either. Months ago and for the Movistar microphones, she said: “I haven’t spoken much since what happened in Australia, but there I made a big, big breakdown. It was a very big tear in the muscle, I tore the tendon a little bit.”

In addition, he acknowledged that he was “at the Academy training, gym, recovery, 15 or 20 minutes on the track so that the arm does not degenerate” every day. This is not the first time that Nadal has been absent from the circuit for a long timealthough it should be noted that he never lost so much ground in the ranking.

Also, the phrase that excited everyone was the one that launched days ago Carlos Moyá, the coach of the winner of 22 Grand Slams, in an interview with the newspaper The Team: “I am sure that we will see a great Rafael Nadal again“. In Rome, the Spaniard won 10 times and had made the third round last year, although now he will not be there to defend it.

Meanwhile, the Italic forum opens its doors to an event that will be the second chained with an expanded draw, that is, with 96 players and six rounds to go for the favorites, while the unseeded ones would need seven wins to emerge champions.

Of course, the action of this tournament like that of all the Masters 1000 can be seen on ESPN and STAR +.