Nadal pulls out of Montreal with abdominal issue

Rafael Nadal announced Friday he is withdrawing from next week's National Bank Open in Montreal due to an abdominal injury.

The 36-year-old pulled out of the Wimbledon semifinals in July with the injury and has not played since. He said in a statement released Friday that his recovery has been going well but he felt a slight pain Thursday while practicing and the pain continued into Friday, forcing him to pull out of the ATP's only stop north of the border.

“I have been practising for a while now without serving and started with serves four days ago. Everything has been going well. However yesterday, after my normal practice, I felt a slight bother on my abdominal and today it was still there,” said Nadal in a release. “After speaking with my doctor, we prefer to take things in a conservative way and give a few more days before starting to compete. I would like to thank Eugène, the Tournament Director, and all his team for understanding and supporting me and this decision. I am very sad not to finally travel to Montréal. It’s a tournament that I have won five times and I love to play there. I seriously hope I can come back there to play in front of the amazing crowds up there.” 

As a result of the withdrawal, 48th-seeded American Mackenzie McDonald will avoid a passage through qualifying and will move directly to the main draw.

“We are obviously disappointed that Rafael will not be with us this year. A five-time champion of our tournament and the last men’s champion in Montreal (2019), fans were obviously eager to see him back in action at the IGA Stadium,” said Montreal tournament director Eugène Lapierre. “On the other hand, when we take a broader perspective, we still have a very strong board with the presence of 41