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"The last few days I start to feel a little bit
the abdominal, especially when I was serving," Nadal said. "I
was checking with the doctor and the doctor says that is
recommended to not play, because if I continue the abdominal
maybe can break and can be a major thing, and I really don't
want that."
Nadal has not played since retiring in the semifinals of the
U.S. Open on Sept. 7 with a left knee injury. He was set to face
countryman Fernando Verdasco in the second round of the Paris
Masters on Wednesday before pulling out.
"It has been a tough year for me in terms of injuries so I want
to avoid drastic things," Nadal said. "Maybe I can play today,
but the doctor says if I want to play the tournament, I want to
try to win the tournament, the abdominal will break for sure."
He remains uncertain as to whether he will be able to compete in
the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in London from Nov. 11-18.
"I would love to be in London, of course," he said. "But the
most important thing for me is to be healthy and have the chance
to compete weeks in a row."
Malek Jaziri replaced Nadal, beating Verdasco 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3.
Jaziri will move on to face defending champion Jack Sock, the
16th seed, who beat Richard Gasquet.
After seesawing with Switzerland's Roger Federer for the world's
top ranking over the first six months of 2018, Nadal reclaimed
the distinction for the seventh time in his career on June 25.
He has spent 196 career weeks at No. 1, which ranks sixth
all-time.
Djokovic will take the honor next week for the fourth time in
his career and the first time since losing it to Great Britain's
Andy Murray in November 2016. The last time he was ranked No. 1,
Djokovic spent 122 consecutive weeks in the top spot -- the
fourth-longest streak ever -- and brought his career total to
223 weeks (fifth all-time).
The 31-year-old will be the first player to climb from outside
the top 20 to No. 1 in the same season since Russia's Marat
Safin in 2000. While battling back from an elbow injury,
Djokovic was ranked as low as 22nd in June and 21st early in
July before winning Wimbledon.
Djokovic won his second-round match in Paris on Tuesday and will
face Bosnian Damir Dzumhur on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Federer moved past Milos Raonic, as the Canadian was
forced to retire before their match with a right elbow injury he
sustained during his win on Tuesday against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
"In the middle of second set, I overextended my elbow and it did
some kind of pain," Raonic said. "I went and I did an ultrasound
and MRI, and they found some kind of a lesion in the tricep."
Federer is coming off of his 99th career title that he won at
the Swiss Indoors last Sunday, and advances to play 13th-seeded
Fabio Fognini of Italy.
No. 8 John Isner of the United States and No. 7 Kevin Anderson
of South Africa both won in third-set tiebreakers. Isner
defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, while Wimbledon
runner-up Anderson beat Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.
Other winners from Wednesday were No. 4 Alexander Zverev of
Germany, No. 6 Dominic Thiem of Austria, No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov
of Bulgaria, No. 10 Kei Nishikori of Japan, No. 11 Borna Coric
of Croatia and No. 15 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
--Field Level Media
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