Rafa Nadal’s comeback is delayed. The Majorcan tennis player, who has been out since last January due to an iliopsoas injury in his left leg, announced this Tuesday that he will not return to the courts in Monte Carlo, the first tournament of the clay court tour, as he still does not feel “prepared” to compete at the highest level. Neither will Carlos Alcaraz be on the Monegasque slopes, suffering from “post-traumatic arthritis in his left hand and muscular discomfort in the spine.”
“Unfortunately I am not yet in a position to play with the maximum guarantees and I continue my recovery and preparation process, hoping to return to the competition soon,” said the Spaniard, who regrets not being able to “play one of the most important tournaments” of his career, where he has won 11 times.
The activity on the Rainier III track will begin on April 9 and the champion will be decided in the final on April 16. The next appointment on the tennis calendar, starting on April 17, is the Conde de Godó Trophy in Barcelona, ​​Nadal’s second home, a tournament marked in red on the Manacorense’s calendar, which will do everything possible to seek its thirteenth win. on the center court of the Real Club Tenis Barcelona that bears his name.
Injuries have plagued the winner of 22 Grand Slams during his long and successful career. This last physical setback occurred in the second round match of the Australian Open that faced Mackenzie McDonald. The American took the victory in three sets against a limping Nadal (4-6, 4-6 and 5-7).
Initially, the recovery from his iliopsoas injury was going to keep him off the slopes for “six to eight weeks”. Nadal was unable to participate in Indian Wells, where he played in the final last year with a rib injury, and if the initial deadline had been met, he would have been available to play the Miami Masters.
The main objective in the coming months for Nadal, 36, is to reach Roland Garros in full condition, where he will seek to revalidate the title and become champion for the fifteenth time. Beyond the stop at the Monte Carlo Country Club, before the French Grand Slam, the Conde de Godó Trophy, the Madrid Masters 1000 and the Rome Masters 1,000 will be held.
For his part, almost at the same time, Alcaraz announced that he will also have to stop after finishing the semifinals of the Miami Masters, where he lost to Sinner, with “post-traumatic arthritis in his left hand and muscular discomfort in the spine that need rest to face all that is to come.”
The new champion from Indian Wells explains in a message on Twitter that “after two months of competing”, in which he has won two titles, he is “happy to return home” but “sad” because of the physical problems. “After visiting my doctor Juanjo López in Murcia today (this Tuesday) and being evaluated, I will not be able to go to Monte Carlo to start the ground tour,” concluded the man from El Palmar, who in El Principado had the possibility of recovering the number one, lost in Miami in favor of Novak Djokovic.
