"We still don’t have control of it": Nadal won't defend US Open title

If the US Open gets off the ground on August 31, it will be without its defending men's champion.

On Tuesday, the tournament's entry lists were released. Ashleigh Barty and Nick Kyrgios previously announced they were opting out of the hard-court major. Rafael Nadal, who edged Daniil Medvedev in five sets to lift his 19th major trophy last year at Flushing Meadows, headlined the lineup of absent names joining the Australians.

In theory, Nadal could have changed his mind by requesting a wild card closer to the time, but the Spaniard wasted no time in confirming he would not head to New York, maintaining his concern about the complexities and risks brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

"After many thoughts, I have decided not to play this year’s US Open. The situation is very complicated worldwide, the COVID-19 cases are increasing, it looks like we still don’t have control of it," he wrote on Instagram. "This is a decision I never wanted to take, but I have decided to follow my heart this time and for the time being, [I'd] rather not travel."

Reports circulated Monday that Madrid would back out of staging its reshuffled event in September. On Tuesday, the ATP and WTA tours made the news official. Madrid was a tournament Nadal had committed to playing in July, according to tournament director Feliciano Lopez.

"We know that the reduced tennis calendar is barbaric this year after four months stopped with no play, I understand and thank for the efforts they are putting in to make it happen," Nadal continued. "We have just seen the announcement of Madrid not being played this year. All my respects to the USTA, the US Open organizers and the ATP for trying to put the event together for the players and the fans around the world through TV."

While Madrid was due to be held directly after the US Open and now occupies a vacant week, outside of tying Roger Federer's record of 20 major titles and trying to stop Novak Djokovic from closing his gap with the Spaniard to one Slam, there isn't as much at stake to outweigh Nadal's concerns. As part of the both tours implementing a modified ranking system, players will retain their best result from events held from March 2019 through December 2020, leaving Nadal zero opportunity to accumulate additional US Open points until next season. There's also the fact the ATP tour is yet to release its latest restructured calendar and with Madrid out of the picture, it opens the door for a clay-court event to be held elsewhere.