Rafael Nadal Pulls Out of the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2019

US Open champion Rafael Nadal will miss the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2019 next week due to an injury in his left hand as announced by AS.This is the second year in a row that the world No.2 has skipped the Shanghai Masters.

Last year, the Spaniard had ended his season early after the US Open due to a knee injury. According to the Spanish daily, Rafael Nadal is expected to return to the ATP Tour at the Paris Rolex Masters at the end of October.

Confirming his withdrawal from the event Rafael Nadal said: “Hi all, I am very sad to announce that I won’t be able to play in Shanghai this year. It is the second year in a row and in China I have great fans. The tournament is amazing and the city one of the most special places around the world.”

He further added, “But, as you all probably know, I had an inflammation on my left wrist during the Laver Cup and I haven’t had the time to recover and practice to be ready for this amazing event. I hope to be back in Shanghai for the 2020 tournament.”

Earlier, the inflammation in the left hand forced Rafael Nadal to withdraw from the Laver Cup 2019. The 33-year-old played two matches on the day 2 of the Laver Cup 2019 before withdrawing on the last day of the three-day event. He defeated Milos Raonic in his first singles match but lost to Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock in the doubles partnering with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

He was scheduled to play a singles match against Nick Kyrgios of Team World and doubles match against partnering with his arch-rival Roger Federer against Jack Sock and John Isner on the final day of the 2019 Laver Cup. However, his joint became inflamed and was replaced by Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas for singles and doubles respectively.

The world No.2 will not be able to win ATP points on the Asian tour and the objective will undoubtedly be to win the ATP Finals for the first time in his career.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion has no points to defend in the remainder of the season, unlike the world No.1 Novak Djokovic, who is defending 2600 points – 1000 from Shanghai Masters, 600 from the final in Paris Bercy Masters and 1000 from Nitto ATP Finals in London.