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Madrid — Former world No 1 and 14-time Grand Slam title winner Rafael Nadal shut down his season yesterday 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. — AFP.