FILE PHOTO: Tennis – Laver Cup – Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland – September 21, 2019 Team Europe’s Rafael Nadal in action during his singles match against Team World’s Milos Raonic REUTERS/Pierre Albouy
(Reuters) – Rafa Nadal has pulled out of the Shanghai Masters due to a wrist injury that cut short his participation in last month’s Laver Cup, the world number two said on Friday.
The 33-year-old, who claimed his 19th Grand Slam title at this year’s U.S. Open, said that he had not had enough time to practice sufficiently due to inflammation in his left wrist
“I am very sad to announce that I won’t be able to play in Shanghai this year. It is the second year in a row and in China I have great fans,” Nadal said in a statement.
“But, as you all probably know, I had an inflammation on my left wrist during the Laver Cup and I haven’t had the time to recover and practice to be ready… I hope to be back in Shanghai for the 2020 tournament.”
Two-times finalist Nadal’s withdrawal denies fans the chance to witness the reunion of the Big Four of men’s tennis at the Oct. 6-13 tournament, with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all scheduled to feature.
It also hands Djokovic the advantage in the battle to seal the year-end number one ranking.
Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty