''We didn't have enough money to sign Rafael Nadal,' said Acapulco TD

World no. 2 Rafael Nadal played at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco in three of the past four years, reaching two finals winning the title a year ago.

A year ago, Rafael Nadal claimed his third Acapulco title and the first on the hard court, beating five rivals in straight sets for his 85th ATP title in his last performance before the coronavirus outbreak! Nadal will not compete in Acapulco in March, leaving Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Diego Schwartzman and Milos Raonic as the top seeds.

The Acapulco tournament director Raul Zurutuza said they didn't have enough money to bring Rafa to their event this year, having a reduced budget and opting for some other players.

"The relationship with Nadal's agent Carlos Costa is super good, and things were very open; the reality is that there are no funds to pay Rafael Nadal for this year's edition of Acapulco. Our budget is super-mega limited, so we decided to invest that money in bringing who we could get. We already had a contract signed with Zverev, and it was more expensive to cancel it than to pay him.

And the other players, the four or five that we invited with an appearance fee have put the batteries; their financial demands are substantially lower than what they normally do," Raul Zurutuza said.