Nadal skips Barcelona Open

Rafael Nadal’s French Open preparations are being guided by his delicate knees.

Nadal says he is in “perfect” shape but skipped the Barcelona Open because he didn’t want a repeat of last year’s injury problems, which hampered his goal of a fifth straight title at Roland Garros and forced him out of Wimbledon.

The Spaniard is forgoing a chance at a sixth title in Barcelona in order to show “maximum caution” as his “only objective” is to be physically well.

Nadal will try to win his fifth Rome Masters title next week. He also still has the Madrid Masters on his calendar but has previously hinted he would drop that tournament.