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Spanish tennis wizard Rafael Nadal pulled out of Australian Open 2024 due to a muscle tear. Nadal, who was set to return to the Grand Slam a week later, after almost a year announced that he is not ready to compete yet. The Spaniard said that he had concerns over his hip injury after needing a medical timeout in the third set of the Brisbane International quarterfinal, where he lost to Jordan Thompson. While earlier it seemed like a muscle tension, the 22-time Grand Slam winner announced on January 7, 2024, that he wouldn’t participate in the tournament.
Nadal announced on social media, “ Right now I am not ready to compete at the maximum level. I have worked very hard during the year for this comeback and as I always mentioned my goal is to be at my best level in 3 months. Within the sad news for me for not being able to play in front of the amazing Melbourne crowds, this is not very bad news and we all remain positive with the evolution for the season.
He added, “I really wanted to play here in Australia and I have had the chance to play a few matches that made me very happy and positive." When fans were counting days for the highly-anticipated comeback, this unexpected turn of events took social media by storm. This is how fans reacted to the news:
Notably, Nadal won the first two competitive matches in a year before losing to Thompson.
