When will Rafael Nadal return to his favorite surface?
Victim of a broken rib on March 22, during the final in Indian Wells, the Spaniard needs four to six weeks before being restored.
On Tuesday, his team announced in a statement that he was withdrawing from the entry list for the Barcelona clay-court tournament, having already missed the start of the season on the ocher dust in Monte-Carlo.
"
We don't know yet when he will play his first clay-court tournament this year.
Hopefully soon
,” the statement continued.
Revealing that medical tests carried out in Barcelona confirmed "
a stress fracture of the left third costal arch
".
The next tournaments on the preferred surface of the player 13 times crowned Porte d'Auteuil are Madrid, at the beginning of May, then Rome.
Enough to hope to be able to play a few matches on clay before the launch of Roland-Garros (from May 22 to June 5).