Rafael Nadal’s presence in their year’s Wimbledon Championships is facing growing uncertainty after he announced his withdrawal from the Aegon Championships.
The former world No.1 withdrew from the French Open last week due to a wrist injury. Nadal has been troubled by an issue with his left wrist since the eve of his semi-final loss to Andy Murray at the Madrid Open last month. During his first two rounds at Roland Garros, the Spaniard admitted that he was taking painkillers to cope with the pain.
“I arrived here with a little bit of pain, but something that I think I was able to manage. Every day was a little bit worse. Every single day we spent a lot of hours here working so hard to try to play.” Nadal said last week about his wrist.
Due to the ongoing problems, the Spaniard has withdrawn from the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club, which will get underway in less than two week’s time. Nadal refrained from providing any further information about the current state of his wrist.
“I am very sad that my wrist injury means that I cannot play at The Queen’s Club this year,” Nadal said in a statement.
“It is a tournament and a club that I love, I enjoy playing in front of the British people, and I was looking forward to trying to win the title for a second time. I wish everyone at the tournament a great week, and I look forward to returning in future years.”
The withdrawal of the 2008 champion has intensified doubts about Nadal’s presence at SW19, the third grand slam of the season. Previously the 29-year-old have spoken optimistically about playing at Wimbledon.
“I need a couple of weeks (with the wrist) immobilised. Then we’re going to do the treatment and we hope that works well.” He said in Paris.
“We expect to recover quickly and to be ready for Wimbledon.”
Nadal, who hasn’t reached the last eight at Wimbledon since 2011, has only missed the tournament twice in his career (2004 and 2009).
It isn’t the first time that a wrist injury have forced Nadal to withdraw from a major tournament. In 2014 he also pulled out of the US Open due to a wrist injury.
Regardless of Nadal’s absence, the Aegon Championships will still have a strong line-up. Top seed Andy Murray will be joined by Stan Wawrinka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic.
