Nadal Withdraws From Olympics

Written by: Staff on 20th July 2012

Nadal Withdraws From Olympics |

The curse of the defending Olympic singles champion has struck again as Rafael Nadal has been forced to pull out of both the upcoming defense of his Men’s Singles gold medal and the honor of carrying the Spanish flag at the Opening Ceremony in London a week today.

The 26 year-old reigning French Open champion and winner of 11 Grand Slam titles made the decision after a testing training session. Nadal announced his decision in a statement released jointly by the Spanish federation (RFET) and his own publicist Benito Perez-Barbadillo. “I do not find myself in a condition to compete,” he said. “It is one of the saddest moments of my career.”

Once again the problem is tendinitis in the Majorcan’s knees, the same injury that prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title three years ago. Only last weekend Nadal was forced to pull out of a massive exhibition match against Novak Djokovic to be played at the home of his beloved Real Madrid, designed to raise funds for his.

“I am not able to compete at the Olympics in London and therefore will not be traveling as planned with the Spanish delegation,” stated Nadal with enormous regret.

“I have to think about my colleagues. I cannot be selfish and I have to think of the good of Spanish sport, especially Spanish tennis, and let a team-mate who is better prepared to compete.

“I’ve waited until the final moment of my preparation and my training, but I cannot do it.”

The team-mate who will step into the Spanish side is Nadal’s good friend Feliciano Lopez, currently ranked 30th in the world, a member of Spain’s victorious Davis Cup team last year and a three-times quarter-finalist at Wimbledon.

But concern is growing about Nadal’s long-term health. He is set to return at the Rogers Cup in Toronto beginning on August 6 but the North American hard court summer swing has long been viewed as the most testing for the former world no.1’s troublesome knees.

Last night his coach and uncle Toni Nadal, said: “Rafa has gone through bad times but this is worst moment of all. The pain is strong.”

The elder Nadal has long warned his nephew to be cautious of playing when his knees are causing problems. Rafa has not played since losing in Wimbledon’s second round to Lukas Rosol and Toni said: “Rafa has done everything possible to be in a position in London. He was aware of the fact that these would be the last Olympics, so you can imagine how she feels right now. ”

“We tried to force the issue but did not do anything. This morning when we went there to train, we soon realized that there was nothing to do and that it was not worth risking anything.”