Rafael Nadal has pulled out of Spain’s ATP Cup tie against Australia with a back problem less than a week before the start of the Australian Open.
Nadal, 34, was scheduled to meet Alex de Minaur on Tuesday.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘Hi all, we have decided with Team Spain and my team to not play today [in] the first match of the ATP Cup here in Melbourne since I have a stiff lower back. Hopefully I’ll be better for Thursday. We have a strong team.”
Roberto Bautista Agut will step in to face de Minaur in the no1 singles match with Pablo Carreno Busta brought into to take on John Millman – a tie he won in straight sets.
Spain will play Greece on Thursday with Nadal expected to be in action against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
This year’s Australian Open gets underway on Monday February 8 where world No. 2 Nadal will launch his bid for a record 21st Grand Slam.
While Nadal was forced to pull out of his first match, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic stormed to a straight sets win as Serbia beat Canada 2-1.
Djokovic beat world No. 12 Denis Shapovalov 7-5 7-5 level up Serbia’s tie with Canada after Milos Raonic beat Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-4.
He then returned to the doubles court, teaming up with Filip Krajinovic to beat Raonic and Shapovalov to claim the tie for Serbia.
World No. 3 Dominic Thiem, meanwhile, slipped to defeat against Matteo Berrettini – a particularly disappointing loss after unfancied Dennis Novak had given Austria a 1-0 lead over Italy by beating Fabio Fognini.
Thiem and Novak then went down 6-1 6-4 to Berrettini and Fognin in the doubles.
There were no such problems for Russian world No. 8 Andrey Rublev, who thumped Argentina’s Guido Pella 6-1 6-2.
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