Rafael Nadal announced that he will not be competing for the rest of the 2021 tennis season, including the upcoming US Open, as he is giving himself some time off to recover from a foot injury that has been troubling him. Nadal expressed his displeasure over missing the Wimbledon, Olympics and now the US Open but he said has not been able to train and prepare in the way he likes.
Nadal revealed that his foot injury is not new and he has had it since 2005 and he felt it was now time to look it at carefully and find a solution or at least improve the situation for himself.
He added in his statement that he will be trying to recover in the best way that he can and keep competing at the highest level and enjoy the sport “for a while longer".
Here is the full transcript of Nadal’s statement:
Hello everyone, I wanted to inform you that unfortunately I have to end the 2021 season. Honestly, I’ve been suffering a lot more than I should with my foot for a year and I need to take some time. After having discussed it with the team and family, this decision has been made and I think it is the way forward to try to recover and recover well.
It’s a year that I’ve missed things that matter a lot to me, like Wimbledon, like the Olympics, how the United States Open is going to be now, like many other events that are also important to me and in view of the fact that during this last year I have not had the ability to train and prepare and compete in the way that I really like do it…
In the end, I come to the conclusion that what I need is time to recover, change a series of things, try to understand what has been the evolution of their feet in recent times. It is not a new injury, it is an injury that I have had since 2005 and it had not prevented me from developing my sports career during all these years.
If it is true that things are not going as they should, as we would all like, it is time to make decisions, seek a slightly different type of treatment to find a solution to this problem or at least improve it in order to continue to have options for the next few years.
I am with the maximum enthusiasm and predisposition to do whatever it takes to recover the best possible form, to keep competing for the things that really motivate me and the things that I’ve done all these years. I am convinced that with the recovery of the foot and obviously a very important daily effort, this can be achieved. I will work as hard as I can to make it happen.
Thank you in advance for all the support, understanding and all your expressions of affection that are very important and more in difficult times like these. I promise you what I am going to do is work hard to try to continue enjoying this sport for a while longer. A big hug to all.
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