There is a change of guard going on in tennis with Carlos Alcaraz dominating the tour. However, the presences of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal still command most of the attention from the fans even when they aren’t playing.
Injuries have been a huge limitation for the king of clay. Nadal has missed a lot of time with several issues that took them out of his usual ranking. The Spaniard actually left the Top 10 this year for the first time since 2005.
He was supposed to be playing in his favorite surface, but he has not been able to do it. The 22-time Grand Slam champion missed events he has mostly won like Montecarlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and now Rome. This is the reason behind his decision.
Rafael Nadal’s injury update
The Spaniard last played in the second round of the Australian Open. It was a 6-4; 6-4; 7-5 loss against McKenzie McDonald the match where he got injured. The defeat was on January 18, although he has not been able to play since then. The list of events he missed also includes Miami and Indian Wells, so it’s fair to question when he will be back.
Nadal is not playing the 2023 Italian Open because he is injured. He suffered a grade 2 lesion in the Iliacus Psoas of his left leg with a return timetable of six to eight weeks, but the projection was clearly incorrect. It’s been almost four months of recovery that hasn’t gone as they projected. It was the player the person in charge of sharing his latest update regarding his injury.
"I'm very sorry to announce that I will not be able to be in Rome. You all know how much it hurts to miss another one of the tournaments that have marked my professional and personal career for all the love and support of the Italian tifosi. Despite having noticed an improvement in recent days, there have been many months without having been able to train at a high level and the readaptation process has its times and I have no choice but to accept them and continue working", Nadal wrote on his official Twitter account.
