INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Rafael Nadal pulled out of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday night, a day before he was supposed to play his first official match in two months.
Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, posted the news on social media, writing that he was announcing the withdrawal “with great sadness.”
The 37-year-old from Spain missed nearly all of last season because of a hip injury that required surgery, then briefly returned to action for three matches in early January before tearing a muscle near the hip. That forced him to bypass the Australian Open — and he has not been on tour since.
Nadal had come to the California desert well ahead of the hard-court tournament to prepare for his return to action in what he has said could be his final year as a professional. He left to head to Las Vegas, where he played an exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday, before going back to Indian Wells.
He was scheduled to face 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic in the first round Thursday night, but now the world will wait to find out when it next will get a chance to watch Nadal compete.
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