AUS OPEN 2013: Nadal Withdraws Due To Illness

11-time major champion and 2012 Australian Open finalist Rafael Nadal announced on Friday that he would be withdrawing from the 2013 Australian Open, extending his sabbatical from tennis to well over 7 months. Nadal last played (and lost) a competitive match on the ATP tour on June 28, 2012 in the second round of Wimbledon.

Nadal made the announcement via Facebook, where he has over 11 million followers, in Spanish and English:

Mi rodilla está bastante mejor, y el proceso de recuperación ha ido según lo previsto por los médicos, pero este proceso vírico ha hecho que no pudiera entrenar esta última semana y en los próximos días y por tanto, muy a mi pesar no podré reaparecer en el momento que habíamos previsto.

Creo que tal y como dicen los médicos y mi equipo, lo más prudente es hacer las cosas bien y este virus ha hecho retrasar todos mis planes de reaparecer en estos días. Mi reaparición tendrá que esperar hasta el torneo de Acapulco si bien no descartaría la posibilidad de reaparecer en algún torneo antes.

As my team and doctors say, the safest thing to do is to do things well and this virus has delayed my plans of playing these weeks. I will have to wait until the Acapulco tournament to compete again although I could consider to play before at any other ATP event

My knee is much better and the rehabilitation process has gone well as predicted by the doctors, but this virus didn’t allow me to practice this past week and therefore I am sorry to announce that I will not play in Doha and the Australian Open, as we had initially scheduled.

The announcement means that Nadal will almost certainly lose his World #4 ranking after the Australian Open, and may even fall below #5, depending on the results of others.

Cui bono? It appears to me as if this should make Andy Murray's chances of winning the tournament more likely, but we shall see.