Rafael Nadal withdraws from Laver Cup due to ‘personal reasons’
Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Laver Cup on Saturday due to ‘personal reasons’.
The world No. 1 bowed out in the round-robin of the $6.3m event at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium due to a ‘personal reason’.
Nadal was originally due to receive a warning for his behaviour in the build up to the event.
The Spaniard received a two-year suspension from the US Open after hitting umpire Carlos Ramos with his racket in 2011.
He was handed a one-year ban for his behaviour at the Dubai Tennis Championships and was ordered to play at the BNP Paribas Open in 2014.
Nadal’s statement read: “Unfortunately, my personal reasons at the tournament did not allow me to participate in the Laver Cup today. I would like to apologise to my family, friends and team. I can’t explain the reasons right now, but I am sorry.”
Nadal is only ranked seventh among the world’s top 10 clay courts players.
He lost his first-round match to Russian Daniil Medvedev, 11-5, 6-4, 6-2, at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium.
The match began poorly for Nadal and ended poorly with a number of errors from his opponent.
The 31-year-old took the lead with a break point in the first game.
Medvedev got his match back on track then, breaking Nadal for 4-3 in the second game.
A backhand volley from Medvedev was followed by a forehand winner and another break point for Nadal.
The world No. 7 responded very positively to this situation and managed to win the third game of the match, 6-4, 6-4.
Nadal then took control of the match in the fourth game and broke Medvedev at love.
The Russian dropped serve in the fifth game but broke the Spaniard for 4-3 in the sixth.
A double fault from Medvedev gave Nadal the