World No. 2 Rafael Nadal officially withdrew from the US Open Tennis Championships on Monday, conceding 2000 ATP World Tour points and his title defense.
Struggling with a right wrist injury for the last three weeks, Nadal provided the following statement on his Facebook page in regards to his withdrawal: “I am very sorry to announce I won’t be able to play at this year’s US Open a tournament on which I’ve played 3 consecutive finals in my last participations. I am sure you understand that it is a very tough moment for me since it is a tournament I love and where I have great memories from fans, the night matches, so many things… Not much more I can do right now, other than accept the situation and, as always in my case, work hard in order to be able to compete at the highest level once I am back.”
Roger Federer will move up to the No. 2 seed and top seed Novak Djokovic will become the clear favorite to take the title, regardless of his poor form this summer. The US Open begins on August, 25th.
