Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the exhibition event in Abu Dhabi that takes place on the 28th of December as he is still recovering from a knee injury.
According the Spanish Newspaper ‘Marca’, the current world number one has decided to withdraw from the event as he aims to recover for the start of the 2018 season in Brisbane.
Nadal, who is defending champion at the event, will now be replaced by Roberto Bautista Agut as Nadal aims to recover from a knee injury that saw his ATP World Tour Finals campaign end early in November.
However this is not the only exhibition that the 16 time grand slam champion pulled out of as last week he also pulled out of a training session with Joao Sousa in his hometown of Mallorca.
The Spaniard is expected to make a relatively quick recovery as he did pass a medical examination on Monday and will hope to return for the Brisbane International, which starts on the 31st of December.
As for the exhibition, it is a huge blow as Nadal joins Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic on the withdrawal list as the tournament looks to celebrate its 10 year anniversary.
The tournament will now be contested between, Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Bautista Agut, Kevin Anderson and Andrey Rublev.
