Madrid: Reigning champion Rafael Nadal will miss the US Open later this month due to a right wrist injury.
“I am very sorry to announce I won’t be able to play at this year’s US Open, a tournament in which I’ve played three consecutive finals in my last participations,” he wrote on his official Facebook page on Monday.
A two-time champion in New York, Nadal also missed the tournament back in 2012 as he recovered from a knee injury.
“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,” he added.
“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.”
The world number two had already been forced pull out of the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters due to the injury he suffered in training last month.
The withdrawal continues an up and down season for the Spaniard as he has failed to match his achievements of 2013, despite claiming a 14th Grand Slam title at Roland Garros back in May.
The other US Open men’s singles champions who did not return to the field the following year were Ken Rosewall in 1971, Pete Sampras in 2003, and Juan Martin del Potro in 2010.
This will be the second time Nadal failed to try to defend a Grand Slam title: A year after winning Wimbledon in 2008, he chose to not enter that tournament, citing knee tendinitis.
Nadal’s 14 major titles are tied with Sampras for the second most in the history of men’s tennis, trailing only Roger Federer’s record of 17.
With Nadal out, five-time US Open champion Federer — now 33, but coming off a runner-up finish at Wimbledon last month and a hard-court title in Cincinnati on Sunday — will join the No. 1-ranked Djokovic as a favourite in Flushing Meadows.
A back injury bothered the 28-year-old as he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in the Australian Open final and he was far from his supreme best early on in the clay court season as he suffered surprise defeats to David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro at the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open, respectively.
He also lost out to world number one Novak Djokovic in the finals of the Miami and Rome Masters, but exacted revenge by preventing the Serb from completing the career Grand Slam with his ninth French Open title.
However, his poor grasscourt form of recent seasons resurfaced at Wimbledon as he was shocked by 19-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios in the last 16 in his last outing before being struck down by his latest injury.
