MADRID: Former world number one and 14-time Grand Slam title winner Rafael Nadal shut down his season on Thursday to concentrate instead on recovering full fitness for a fresh trophy assault in 2017.
The 30-year-old has been plagued by physical problems and has now gone through a second successive campaign without adding to his majors collection.
A left wrist injury forced him to withdraw from the French Open before the third round and kept him on the sidelines until the Olympics.
“It is no secret that I arrived to the Olympic Games short of preparation and not fully recovered, but the goal was to compete and win a medal for Spain. This forced recovery has caused me pain since then and now I am forced to stop and start preparing the 2017 season,” Nadal wrote on Facebook.
Nadal, ranked at six in the world, suffered a shock second round defeat to Victor Troicki at the Shanghai Masters last week.
But he had been due to play in Basel next week and then the Paris Masters. He was also well-placed to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
