Rafael Nadal to miss Rome Masters, stating May 10 to continue recovery from injury

22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal confirmed on Friday, May 5 that he would pull out from the Italian Open , the last of the 3 annual Masters 1000 tournaments on clay, to give himself more time to completely recover from the hip injury.

Rafael Nadal was expected to make his comeback at the Rome Masters before he launched his bid for the French Open title defence in May-June. However, the Spaniard took to social media to confirm he was pulling out of the tournament that he has won 10 times in his storied career.

Nadal said his condition has improved in the last few days but the lack of match practice has forced him to pull out of the Rome Masters, starting May 10. Nadal had pulled out of the ongoing Paris Masters, saying there was a delay in his recovery process.

Nadal's decision to pull out from all 3 major lead-up tournaments on the



clay court swing has raised doubts over his participation in the French Open, starting May 28.

"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," he added.

Nadal has not missed a single French Open tournament since winning the first of his 14 titles in 2005.

The Spaniard has not played on the tour since his shock second-round exit at Australian Open in January. The Spaniard missed Miami and Indian Wells Masters before withdrawing from the major clay-court events.