World's number three Rafael Nadal withdrew from the National Bank Open on Friday due to injury. The Spaniard was injured during his quarter-final match against Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon on 6 July. Nadal was later forced to pull out of his semi-final match against Nick Kyrgios, despite suffering through the pain of a spectacular five-set victory against the American. Nadal needs more time to recover from the problem, prompting him to pull out of Canada's hard court ATP Masters 1000 event. A statement from Tennis Canada quoted Nadal as saying, "I have been practicing for some time and started to serve four days ago.
Everything is going well. However, after my normal practice yesterday, I had to go back to my training." Felt a little troublesome, and it was there even today." He said, "After talking to my doctor, we are trying to get things right and have more to look at before we start competing. I want to convey this decision to tournament director Eugene and his entire team."
I want to thank you for your understanding and support. I'm so sad not to travel to Montreal. It's a tournament I've won 5 times, and I love playing there."
Nadal, the 36-time Masters 1000 champion, is a five-time winner in Canada, with three titles in Montreal and two in Toronto. World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev is the defending champion in the Canadian Masters 1000 event, alternating each year between Montreal and Toronto's host cities. The season of the third oldest event of this year on the ATP Tour will run from 7 to 14 August.