The Spaniard went on social media to announce he is not going to travel to Mexico.
Rafa Nadal went on Twitter today to announce he has decided not to play in Acapulco this year due to a lingering back issue but apparently that’s not the full story.
Nadal also pulled out of Rotterdam which starts on Monday stating the back injury he suffered in Australia was holding him back but another piece was made public today that the main reason Nadal won’t play is the tournament finances.
Usually a player of Nadal caliber will be attracted to smaller events by what is called an apperance fee which is basically a fee paid to the player to show up and play. Due to the pandemic and the fact most tournaments have lost revenue due to no fans or limited capacity budgets have decreased to a fraction.
The Spaniard also stated the reason he played in Australia with the injury was because it was a grand slam and if it was any other tournament he would have pulled out.
We saw another instance where John Isner called the ATP system broken after the Miami Masters cut its prize money and said it’s not fair and that tournaments should be properly audited.
In Nadal case the apperance fee would be roughly estimated from $500,000 to one million dollars and that will most likely include travel and accomodation.
Acapulco is scheduled for Monday March 15th to the 20th which means fans can probably expect to see Nadal back in action in time for Miami.
