Nadal pulls out of Barcelona Open; Medvedev, Tsitsipas go down in Monte Carlo Masters

Rafael Nadal has yet to get competitive fitness, as he withdrew from the Barcelona Open later this month. Meanwhile, in the Monte Carlo Master, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev lost in the quarterfinal.

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Twenty-two-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal of Spain underwent surgery lately after suffering an injury during the Australian Open in January. Since then, he has been rehabilitating and preparing for his competitive comeback. While he pulled out of the opening clay event of the year, the ongoing Monte-Carlo Masters, he has also withdrawn from the upcoming Barcelona Open next week.

Taking to social media, Nadal said, “Barcelona is a special tournament for me. I’m still not ready and continuing to prepare for the return to competition.” The Spaniard suffered a grade 2 injury in his left iliopsoas muscle. While fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is the event’s defending champion, Nadal has won on record 12 instances.

As for Monte-Carlo, defending champion Steafnis Tsitsipas of Greece was knocked out in the quarterfinal on Friday by Taylor Fritz of the United States of America (USA) in straight sets: 6-2, 6-4. The same day also saw Daniil Medvedev of Russia going down to Holger Rune of Denmark in straight sets: 6-3, 6-4. On Friday, fellow 22-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia was ousted by Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.