Tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz is set to lead Spain against Novak Djokovic's Serbia next month in the Davis Cup group stage as Rafael Nadal wasn't named to the Spanish team on Monday. Nadal will return to this week's Cincinnati Open after an abdominal injury.
This same injury also pushed the 22-time Grand Slam champion to miss the Wimbledon semifinals. Similarly, he was out of this month's event in Montreal, another hard-court warmup event before the US Open, which is set to start in New York on 29 August.
Before the Cincinnati Open, Nadal gave an update about his injury and addressed that he still has a tear in the abdomen which could be dangerous. He said: "The main thing is to stay healthy and play the events that I want to play. I will not play more than what I believe works well for my body. I am happy to be back in Cincinnati after a couple of years without the chance of being able to be here. I had a small tear in the abdomen, so it is dangerous."
"The abdominal is a place that is dangerous because on every serve you put a lot of effort there. I am trying to do things properly, trying to be a bit more conservative. I hope I can be ready for the action here. I want to play tennis again on the Tour. I am having a good season and I am enjoying it. I want to enjoy this week in Cincinnati," he further continued.
Whereas Former world No. 1 Andy Murray is set to return to the tournament for the first time since 2019 after being named to Britain's team that will take on the United States, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands in Scotland. World number two Alexander Zverev, who underwent surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right ankle, will lead Germany against France, Belgium and Australia in Hamburg.
The 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic will lead Croatia against Italy, Argentina and Sweden in Bologna. The top two teams from each group enter the knockout stage in Malaga on November 22-27.