Rafael Nadal Withdraws From Australian Open With Hip Muscle Injury, Comeback on Hold

MELBOURNE, Australia—Rafael Nadal’s comeback from hip surgery is on hold after he withdrew from the Australian Open with an injury a week before the start of the season’s first Grand Slam tournament. The 22-time major champion said Sunday on social media that medical tests he took in Melbourne revealed a small tear in a hip muscle and he would fly home to Spain for treatment. The 37-year-old Nadal has won the Australian Open twice—in 2009 and 2022—and his absence will leave this year’s event without what had been expected to be one of its main story lines. It was a year ago at Melbourne Park that Nadal hurt his hip flexor during a second-round loss to Mackie McDonald, then missed the rest of the season....