Rafael Nadal to sit out for rest of 2021 season due to foot injury; confident on comeback

Rafael Nadal has announced that he will not be playing any tennis for the remaining 2021 season owing to a foot injury that he has been nursing since the semi-finals of the French Open earlier this year. The foot injury has been a concern for the Spaniard who last played on the hard-court surface in Washington on August 6. He won the first match against Jack Sock before losing his second to Lloyd Harris.

In a video for his fans, he says that he will not be able to play tennis for the remaining 2021 season owing to a foot injury that he has had since the start of the year and it has led to him missing many important events like the Olympics, Wimbledon and now the US Open.

"I am very sorry to announce that I will not be able to keep playing tennis during the 2021 season," he said in the video uploaded to the ATP Tour Twitter page. "I have been suffering too much with my foot (injury) for the last year now. I've missed a lot of important events for me like the US Open, Wimbledon, Olympics, and many other events that are so important and emotional for me. "

Not at his competitive best

He then said that he took the decision after speaking to his team and doctors and that he has not been able to practice and prepare himself in the way that he would be at his competitive best.

"After taking a few days to think about it and speaking to my family, team, and doctors, (my) foot is not in a proper way. I have not been able to practice and prepare myself that I need to be competitive at the standard that I want to be so we took has to take that decision."

However, he was confident that he will be back to his earlier self and fight for the important trophies." I am confident that I will recover myself to 100% and will be able to fight for the most important things (titles)." he said. 

Injury persisting since 2005

He spoke about the injury saying that he has had it since 2005 and that the doctors were very pessimistic in their view of his future in the sport however he fought all odds to win 20 Grand Slam titles and be tied for the highest with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Nadal also mentioned that if his injury heals well then he can his tennis will be back to its former glory.

"The injury is nothing new, it is the same injury I've had since 2005, the doctors then were very negative about my future career but I had a career I never dreamed about and so I am confident that I recover again. If my foot is better I'm confident that my tennis and my mentality will be there again soon and so you can be sure is that I will fight every single day to make that happen."

(Image Credits: @atptour - Twitter)