Rafael Nadal will not play the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The world No. 1 is back to practice around ten days ago but he is not ready to compete. Nadal hopes to be back in time for Paris Masters and ATP Finals in London, and until US Open there was a slim chance that he could ask a wild card for Vienna.

However, the tournament director Herwig Straka said: 'I spoke almost every day by phone to Rafa. Unfortunately, there is no good news. Nadal is not fit yet. He would like to come to Vienna, but at the moment his body is not doing well.

If you know him, you know that Nadal will play a tournament only if he is at 100 per cent', Straka said as quoted by Krone. Straka now hopes to bring in Novak Djokovic, who is still unsure about whether if playing Basel or Vienna or take a rest and come back late this month in Paris. 'We are setting a B plan', Straka said.

'We have to negotiate more intensely with Novak Djokovic, we want to make fans see a star', said Straka, who added that Dominic Thiem, who lost early in Shanghai to Matthew Ebden, can now prepare at his best for Vienna.

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