Nadal cuts short comeback after hip injury flares up
ACAPULCO, MEXICO: World No 2 Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Mexican Open on Tuesday, cutting short his comeback from an injury when his ailing right hip flared up again. “My goal and hope was to play in this tournament. Unfortunately, in my last training session yesterday, I felt a sharp pain in my leg again,” the 31-year-old Spanish star said hours before what was to have been his opening match of the ATP Tour event in Acapulco.
Nadal, favoured to win the tournament and champion here in 2005 and 2013, had been due to face fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. “I took all the appropriate steps to arrive at the tournament in form. I went to Cozumel first, to adapt (to the climate),” he said.
“But yesterday, in my last training session before the tournament, during one movement I felt a sharp pain again in the same area where I had the problem in Australia.”
Nadal limped out of the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on January 23. He has since lost his number one ranking to Roger Federer. Nadal said doctors in Mexico warned him not to play for fear of aggravating the injury.
“I still don’t know what it is, because we don’t know. It seems it’s not as bad as what I had at the Australian Open,” he said.
FEDEX SWEEPS HONOURS
MONACO: Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer has been honoured with Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and Comeback of the Year awards at the 2018 ceremony in Monaco. The Swiss fought off competition from Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo and his rival Rafael Nadal to become the Sportsman of the Year.
The two award wins for the Swiss brought his career total of Laureus Awards to six, making him to the most decorated Laureus winner in history.
The 36-year-old won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles in 2017 and became the oldest No 1 after overcoming a serious knee injury.