Rafael Nadal Confirms Withdrawal from 2018 Cincinnati Masters

Rafael Nadal has pulled out of this year's Cincinnati Masters in order to preserve his fitness after he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 7-6 (4) on Sunday to win his fourth Rogers Cup crown.

The Spaniard handled his Greek opponent masterfully to clinch his 33rd career ATP Masters 1000 title, but he took to Twitter afterwards to announce he wouldn't be competing in Cincinnati:

Nadal won the Cincinnati event in 2013—the only time he's managed to make the competition's final—but he'll now seek to recuperate ahead of the 2018 U.S. Open, which gets under way on August 27.

The 32-year-old enjoyed great form in Toronto this past week and beat the likes of Marin Cilic and Stanislas Wawrinka before sealing his Rogers Cup triumph with a win over Tsitsipas, via Tennis TV:

Nadal is sure to place more importance on defending his U.S. Open crown in New York after he bested Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in last year's decider to win the New York tournament for the third time in his career.

His victory in Toronto on Sunday marked a successful return to the ATP circuit after Nadal took a three-week break following his semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in July. 

And with that triumph, Nadal has now won five of the eight singles tournaments he's competed in this year, per the official ATP website, not to mention the world No. 1 now boasts a lead of almost 4,000 points in the ATP rankings.

As ever, the seasoned star was humble in victory on Sunday and gave Tsitsipas his best wishes after the Greek starlet suffered a birthday defeat:

Nadal won the U.S. Open in 2017 after failing to make it past the fourth round in each of his two previous campaigns in New York, but his chances of adding another major look promising.

Djokovic got the better of him on grass at SW19, but he's sure to feel more upbeat regarding his chances at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with Andy Murray only just making his way back from a hip injury.

Roger Federer trails Nadal at No. 2 in the world rankings but has shown signs of his 37 years. He won the Australian Open at the beginning of 2018 but has since been absent from the French Open and was ousted from Wimbledon at the quarter-finals.

Nadal's decision to opt out of Cincinnati promises to yield a stronger campaign at the U.S. Open later in August, and he'll be hoping that his only warm-up event at the Rogers Cup will be sufficient preparation for New York.