Rafael Nadal’s return to action delayed further, withdraws from Indian Wells due to injury

Legendary Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Indian Wells Masters due to the injury he picked up at the Australian Open in January, tournament organisers confirmed on Tuesday.

Nadal will miss the Masters 1000 tournament, which was scheduled to be held frorm March 8 to 19.

Rafael Nadal has not competed on the tour since picking up a hip injury during his second-round defeat at the Australian Open in January. Nadal lost to World No. 65 Mckenzie McDonald in straight sets as his title defence came to a disappointing end.

“Three-time BNP Paribas Open Champion Rafa Nadal has withdrawn from the 2023 tournament due to injury,” Indian Wells organisers said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We wish Rafa continued healing, and hope to see him back at the BNP Paribas Open next year,” Tournament Director Tommy Haas said.

Nadal played the Indian Wells in 2022 after winning the Australian Open crown. The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who won Indian Wells in 2007, 2009, and 2013, lost to Taylor Fritz in the final last year.

Nadal, who won as many as two Grand Slam crowns in 2022, is likely to miss the Miami Open Masters 1000 tournament in March as well. Notably, Nadal has not played the Miami Open, one of the two Sunshine tournaments, since 2017.

Nadal may only return to competitive action when the clay-court swing of the season starts in April. Nadal will be keen on being fully fit for his French Open title defence. The Spaniard will be targeting the 3 Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid before the French Open, which is scheduled to get underway on May 28.

While Novak Djokovic, who won the Australian Open crown in January broke Steffi Graf’s record for most weeks spent as No. 1, Nadal dropped two spots to No. 8 in the latest ATP singles rankings, updated on Monday. Nadal is danger of going out of top 10 by the time he returns to action.