Former world No9 Nicolas Almagro has shed doubt on his participation at the Australian Open, conceding that he may not be ready to return to official competition following a seven-month injury layoff.
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The Spaniard has slipped to No71 in the world after sustaining a foot injury that required surgery.
He had not played a match since last May and despite making his return in Abu Dhabi this weekend – falling to Stan Wawrinka and beating Feliciano Lopez – Almagro has withdrawn from the ATP event in Doha next week and is unsure whether he will play the Australian Open.
The 29-year-old, whose 12 career titles have all come on clay, admits that he considered holding off his comeback until the South American clay court swing but decided to give it a shot so as not to miss the opening grand slam of the season.
On why he decided to pull out of the Qatar Open, which starts on Monday, he said: “Yesterday was tough moments at the beginning of the match (against Wawrinka). I didn’t feel really good with my movement, with my foot again. I decided to rest a little bit because it was really tough during the last six months. I took that decision because the season is really long and I don’t want to play with more pain.”
Asked whether his Australian Open participation was in jeopardy, the Murcia native added: “We need to see. Today was a bit better but we’ll see tomorrow. I’m going to have a lot of pain but we’ll see. You never know.”
Almagro describes 2014 as a tough year and is looking for answers as to why he keeps picking up injuries.
“It’s impossible to have the shoulder, the knee, the foot – the calf which I injured when I was trying to come back at the end of the year,” he added. “It’s destiny, it’s life, but 2014 was a really, really, really tough year for me. We’ll see what will happen in 2015. I’m happy and I want to be healthy.”