Nadal will not compete in Miami: “I want to be ready for the ground”

Rafa Nadal will not reappear at the Miami Masters 1,000 (March 24 to April 4). The Spaniard, who declined the possibility of playing this week with an invitation in Acapulco or Dubai, will skip the remainder of the hard court campaign with the intention of fully recovering from your back injury and face the European land tour with guarantees which will start in Monte Carlo (April 11-18).

This was announced on social networks. “It is sad to announce that I will not play in Miami, a city that I love. I need to fully recover and prepare for the clay court season in Europe. Special message for my fans in the US and in particular for the large Spanish-speaking community in Florida who always give me great support, “wrote the Balearic, who He has not played since he fell in the Australian Open quarter-finals against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on February 17. The problem in the dorsal area of ​​the back that prevented him from performing 100% in the first Grand Slam of the season has him in dry dock and he does not want to force himself to give himself the best possible options to play a good role in the tournaments of the surface that best gives it, with his mind set, especially at Roland Garros (May 23 to June 6), where he aspires to lift his 14th trophy, which would be the 21st in a major, an absolute record on the men's circuit.

After this announcement, Miami is left without two of the components of Big Three, since Roger Federer confirmed a few days ago that he was not going to participate and this tuesday It also transpired that he will not be in Monte Carlo, so his return to the courts, after last week's brief return in Doha, where he beat Evans before falling in the quarterfinals against who would ultimately be Qatar Open champion, Basilashvili, could take place in Madrid (2 to May 9) or in Rome (May 9 to 16). What is certain, unless there is a setback, is that his intention is to play in Paris and prepare to get to Wimbledon in the best possible way.

Benefited

Who will be in the Florida tournament will be Novak Djokovic, who will increase his dominance in the ranking (accumulates 312 weeks). The other great beneficiary of Nadal's absence will be Daniil Medvedev, who will keep the number two that has taken away from the Spanish at least until the Grand Slam on clay.