Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Paris Masters due to an abdominal injury. The Spaniard was due to play Fernando Verdasco in second round action. The withdrawal means that Novak Djokovic will become the new world number one when Monday’s rankings are released.
After the announcement of his withdrawal Nadal explained in further detail why he decided to pull out from the last masters of the year, “The last few days I start to feel a little bit the abdominal, especially when I was serving,” the Spaniard explained.
“And I was checking with the doctor and the doctor says that is recommended to not play, because if I continue the abdominal maybe can break and can be a major thing, and I really don’t want that.
“It have been a tough year for me since that moment in terms of injuries so I want to avoid drastic things. And if maybe I can play today, but the doctor says if I want to play the tournament, I want to try to win the tournament, the abdominal with break for sure.”
The top seed’s withdrawal means that he has now withdrawn from four of his last five hard court events as his struggles on the surface continues.
Of course it was earlier on in the season that the Spaniard claimed that the surface of hard courts needed to change for it to become safer for players to play on.
As a result of his withdrawal, Novak Djokovic will now become world number one on Monday after a two year absence at the top of the rankings.
Despite struggling at the start of the season, the Serb has only lost two matches since the grass court season, with his most recent occurring in Canada when he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The Serb also becomes the first player since Marat Safin in 2000 to become world number one, when starting the season outside the world’s top 20.
The achievement shows how much progress Djokovic has made and the legacy that he is aiming to create for as long as he can in Tennis.
However he will want to end the season there and will continue his bid for the year-end world number one when he faces Damir Dzumhur on Thursday in Paris.
