Rafael Nadal became the 3rd high-profile tennis player to shut himself down for the season after Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem did so before him. All three of those players are dealing with injuries that have prevented them from competing for extended periods of time.
It's something that was kind of expected especially after the Spaniard withdrew from two Masters events in North America. Many wondered whether he might play US Open and he decided against it. Tennis analyst Alex Corretja gave his assessment of the situation.
He said:
"We kind of expected something like that since Rafa pulled out of Toronto and Cincinnati. We wondered if he would be OK for the US Open, and unfortunately, he is not. It's shocking news because we wanted Rafa to play in New York, but he is not 100% ready to compete, as it takes a while to recover."
However, the recent developments worry Corretja as he doesn't know what the future holds for Nadal. He said:
"What worries me a bit is that he pulled out of Wimbledon, the Olympics and now the US Open. That means the injury is more serious than we expected, and I'm a bit concerned about his future as well."