Bautista Agut steps in as replacement for Nadal at Mubadala World Tennis Championship
Rafael Nadal yesterday announced his withdrawal from the 10th staging of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) in Abu Dhabi, and will be replaced by Spanish compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in the six-man field.
The world No 1 has won the tournament the past two years, and is the event’s most successful player having lifted the title four times in total.
But he will now be absent from the event, which takes place at Zayed Sports City Tennis Stadium from Thursday until Saturday.
The Spaniard said that the demands of his 2017 schedule, during which he won two grand slam titles at the French Open and the US Open and returned to world No 1, meant he needed more time to recover for 2018 then he had first expected.
“I am very sorry and disappointed to announce that I won’t be competing this year at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship,” a statement from Nadal released yesterday morning read.
“This would have been my ninth participation in the tournament where I love to play and marking the beginning of my season.
“It was a tough 2017 and I need to take my calendar in a different way in order to be ready.
“For this reason, I have sadly announced to the organisers and now to you fans that I won’t play this time in Abu Dhabi.
“I really want to thank them for understanding and I am sending a special warm message to my fans in the UAE and in Abu Dhabi in particular.”
Bautista Agut, has ended four straight seasons in the top 25 in the world and won two ATP titles in 2017, winning in Winston-Salem and Chennai.
The world No 20 has six career titles to date, with another memorable career victory coming over then-world No 1 and fellow Mubadala participant Novak Djokovic to reach the 2016 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai final.
The rest of the field in Abu Dhabi is made up of Djokovic, Bautista Agut, Dominic Thiem, Kevin Anderson, Pablo Carreno Busta and Andrey Rublev.
There was no news yesterday as to whether the schedule for the event would be redrawn following the news of Nadal no longer being part of the line-up.
This had come after Tuesday’s announcement that both Stan Wawrinka, the three-time major winner, and Canadian Milos Raonic had dropped out of the line-up to be replaced by Anderson and Rublev.
Nadal was top seed originally, and along with Djokovic, a three-time winner of the tournament, had been due to receive a bye to Friday’s semi-finals of the competition.