After a shaky week in Washington where he aggravated his left foot, Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Canadian Open Masters ahead of his opening round match on Wednesday.

Nadal again cited his left foot as the cause.

“I have had this issue for a couple of months, as people know,” the 5-time champion Nadal said. “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. It’s a tough one, but that’s how it is today. I need to go back and try to find a way to be better again. At the end of the day, for me the most important thing is to enjoy playing tennis. 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.

“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.”

Nadal, who has won the last two Canadian Opens, will be replaced by countryman Feliciano Lopez. The 34-year-old is next scheduled to play at the Cincinnati Masters, however clearly that will be in doubt. And what will he do between now and then?

With Rafa’s foot clearly not ready for action, did the Spaniard rush to the courts to quickly last week in Washington?

Rafa will still have about three weeks before he plays his first match at the US Open.

Hear from @RafaelNadal on his left foot injury 👇

(via @NBOtoronto)pic.twitter.com/4DoG6CkDqI

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 10, 2021