By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Former world no. 1 male tennis player Rafael Nadal won’t be competing in the upcoming 2024 Qatar ExxonMobil Open announced last February 14, 2024.
Nadal decided to pull out of the tournament due to his injury in his hip which he sustained last month during his preparations for the 2024 Australian Open.
The Spanish legend made his official announcement on his X account, saying: “I would have loved to play in Doha, where the tournament team, as well as the amazing Qatar fans have always supported me greatly. Unfortunately, I am not ready to compete and I won’t be able to come to Doha.”
Nadal made his highly-anticipated competitive tennis return during the Brisbane International tournament where he wrapped up his campaign with a quarterfinal finish.
After almost four hours of high-octane tennis action, Nadal seemed to lose gas in the last two sets and failed to advance in the semifinal round- 5.7, 7.6, 6.3-. against Jordan Thompson of Australia.
Nadal was on track for another huge momentum swing after surviving a grueling first set but would later on commit several unforced errors which was capitalized by Thompson midway through the second set.
The Spanish legend had three chances of extending his lead but Thompson salvaged three match points that could’ve put him in a difficult situation.
From an error-plagued first set, Thompson quickly changed gears and adjusted his play style to counter Nadal’s heavy top-spin game.
Before losing to Thompson, Nadal swept the first two rounds after demolishing Dominic Thiem in the Round of 32 and Jason Kubler in the Round of 16.
After his convincing performance at Brisbane, Nadal announced his withdrawal from the 2024 Australian Open.
“Hi all. During my last match in Brisbane, I had a small problem on a muscle that as you know, made me worried. Once I got to Melbourne, I have had the chance to make an MRI and I have a micro tear on a muscle, not in the same part where I had the injury and that’s good news,” Nadal posted on X.
