Ousted U.S. Open champion Rafael Nadal has announced that he will miss the remainder of the season, including the Australian Open in January, with a foot injury. He will also retire from the ATP World Tour Finals later this month. “After having consulted with the best doctors in the world, I have decided to end my season with a left foot injury,” Nadal said in a statement. “Unfortunately I will be missing the final months of the tennis season in 2018.”
Nadal, who had previously declared his return to action as “day by day,” said that his foot injury had hampered his recovery from an appendectomy last December. He will now head to Europe for rehabilitation. “I already have a big injury, now I am going to have even more. I also have to deal with the emotions of not being on the tour. I am going to a place I don’t know. A lot of injuries are not easy for the player. I am not talking about tennis, about tennis injuries, I am talking about injuries that you can suffer emotionally after the decision.”
The year 2018, Nadal said, “will be in my mind for a long time” and he hoped to return to action before the end of the year. The Spaniard is rumored to be considering retirement at around the age of 30, although he will not retire this year.