ROTTERDAM, February 25, 2021 (Press Release)

Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the 48th ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. The back problems that started during the Australian Open will prevent him from playing next week. Daniil Medvedev, World No. 3 in the ATP Rankings, will now become the top seed in the tournament that starts on March 1.

Rafael Nadal: “It is with great sadness that I have to forfeit from Rotterdam. As most of the fans know, I suffered some back problems in Australia that started in Adelaide and continued during Melbourne. We found a temporary solution that allowed me to play without pain in the second week of the tournament. Once I got back to Spain I visited my doctor and together with my team they’ve advised not to play this upcoming week. I was really looking forward to coming back to Rotterdam and The Netherlands since it’s been a while I played there and this was the perfect year for my calendar. I hope to come back and play there soon. All the best to the tournament, always a top class event.”

Tournament Director Richard Krajicek: “As it would have been Nadal’s first appearance in Rotterdam since 2009, we were really looking forward to greeting him in Rotterdam for the first time. We will definitely miss him next week. Fortunately we still have a great list of players left, with players like Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev.”

The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament will be held from 1 until 7 March 2021 in Rotterdam Ahoy. As there are no fans allowed in the stadium, the entire tournament can be followed live on Ziggo Sport Tennis in The Netherlands and via TennisTV.com elsewhere in the world.