By Chris Oddo | Tuesday February 27, 2018
Rafael Nadal announced his withdrawal from the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco after re-injuring his right hip area on Monday in practice.
Photo Source: Guillermo Sanchez
Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel after re-injuring his right hip area during practice on Monday with Adrian Mannarino. The Spaniard said the injury was similar to what he experienced when he had to pull out of his quarterfinal match with Marin Cilic at this year's Australian Open.
“Yesterday in the last practice I felt something,” said Nadal. “I went to the hospital this morning to check it, to do an MRI, and I still have some liquid there so I need to keep doing tests to know exactly what’s going on. The spot is really similar to [the injury I had] in Australia.”
Nadal said he still isn’t quite sure if he’ll be ready to play at Indian Wells next week.
“We are going to work hard to try to recover as soon as possible,” he said. “For me it’s impossible today now to say something realistic about if I am going to be at Indian Wells or not—my goal is to be there and I’m going to work to try to be there but I can’t say yes or no now.
Nadal arrived in Mexico early to launch construction of a new tennis centre.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion said he had been training "three hours daily" for his comeback, but ultimately felt his hip was not ready for the rigors of tournament play.
A two-time Acapulco champion, Nadal was runner-up to Sam Querrey last year.
Photo credit: Guillermo Sanchez
In the aftermath of his Australian Open departure, Nadal called on tour officials to consider the long-term health of players.
"Is not the right moment to say for me," Nadal said. "Somebody who is running the tour should think little bit about what's going on. Too many people getting injured. I don't know if they have to think a little bit about the health of the players. Not for now that we are playing, but there is life after tennis.
"I don't know if we keep playing in this very, very hard surfaces what's going to happen in the future with our lives."
An MRI in Australia showed the 31-year-old Spaniard suffered no structural damage to his leg. Nadal said in his Acapulco presser he's eager to put himself to the test of tournament play.
"We try to overcome adversity, if the body responds I am happy that at 31 years of age it is good and competitive enough,” Nadal said.