BARCELONA: Just when Rafael Nadal had recovered from a knee injury, a stomach virus has delayed his return to tennis by a couple of months.
Nadal announced on Friday that he will miss next month’s Australian Open and probably won’t play again until the end of February. The Spaniard said he needs time to recover from the virus that already prevented him from coming back this week in the UAE.
Nadal has been sidelined since June with a knee injury, which forced him to miss the London Olympics and US Open. He had planned to rejoin the ATP tour at the Qatar Open in Doha next month before the January 14-27 Australian Open, but pulled out of both.
”We just hope he gets better quickly and we see him back on the tour as soon as possible,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said.
While he is expected to recover from the virus in time for the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, Nadal and his team said he wouldn’t have the proper preparation for a five-set event.
Nadal stressed that his decision had nothing to do with the tendinitis in his left knee. That injury prompted him to take a break following a second-round loss to then 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon in June.
The former No. 1 hopes to return at a tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, starting February 27. ”As my team and doctors say, the safest thing to do is to do things well and this virus has delayed my plans of playing these weeks,” Nadal said.
Nadal, ranked No. 4, won the Australian Open in 2009. Last year, he lost to Novak Djokovic in a title match that lasted 5 hours, 53 minutes, the longest recorded Grand Slam final. (AP)