The Tennis world came to a standstill when long time great and World number four Rafa Nadal announced that he had pulled out of the Toronto Masters due to a persistent pain in his injured left foot. Even though he did his best by showing up at the prestigious event, Nadal simply couldn't go on. "I have had this issue for a couple of months, as people know," said Nadal. The injury kept the 20-time Grand Slam champion out of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics this year and played a role in his shock third-round exit at the Washington Open last week.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion also said the decision was a tough one but added that the most important thing was getting better so he could go back to appreciating his time on the court. "Of course, it is not a happy situation after all the success that I had here in Canada, not being able to play this year after missing a year. Today, with this pain, I am not able to enjoy it, and I really don't believe that I have the chance to fight for the things that I really need to fight for," he said.
Apparently Nadal has been dealing with a foot injury since 2005. The pain eventually made its way back at this year's Roland Garros, where he fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals before deciding to sit out two of the year's biggest events. Nadal will now turn his attention to getting fit ahead of the U.S. Open in New York.
"I really wanted to play here a lot, but now is the moment to make a decision, and this is unfortunately the decision that I have taken, and probably in the next couple of days we are going to know more," he added.