Leg injury forces Rafael Nadal out of Indian Wells and Miami open

Nadal suffered a leg injury during a training session that forced to pull him out of this week’s Mexican Open in Acapulco. This marks as a setback for the 31- year old, who is yet to compete since retiring from his quarter-final game of the Australian Open against Croatia’s Marin Cilic.

“Unfortunately, the injury I suffered in Acapulco before starting the tournament is in the same area as the one suffered in Melbourne. I won’t be able to play in Miami or Indian Wells as I need to recover. It was very painful to retire from Acapulco and it’s very hard as well to not play in the USA. I will miss you and I will do everything that’s possible to be back there in 2019,” Nadal wrote on his Facebook page.

The Spanish ace, however, seemed confident about the recovery and would be competing in the major tournaments from 2019. For now, he will be missing the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells, which begins next week, and the Miami Open that will follow two weeks later.

Nadal is the second high profile player, who has pulled out of both the events after former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, who has a persistent knee injury that would also keep him out of both the tournaments.