Spain's nine-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal on Saturday withdrew from the ongoing premier clay court grand slam tennis championship event in the world in Paris due to an injury to his left wrist.

The 29-year-old native of Manacor announced his unexpected exit from the tournament the day before he would have been scheduled to play in the third round. According to Shanghai Daily, Nadal wore a blue brace on his wrist during what the left-handed Spaniard described as "one of the toughest press conferences in my career."

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Nadal, who currently sits at the 5^th spot in the ATP's world rankings, said that he would not have tried to take part in any other tourney with the injury. However, he said this is "the most important event of the year for me," and he wanted to be the first tennis player to win ten singles titles at a grand slam. Nadal insisted that his wrist injury is not serious and that it will not have any long-term implications to his well-being.

"We're going to work hard to be ready for Wimbledon," Nadal said. "I need a couple of weeks (with the wrist) immobilized. Then we're going to do the treatment and we hope that works well. We expect to recover quick and to be ready for Wimbledon."

Nadal started this year's Roland Garros campaign with successful straight set victories. He overwhelmed the Australian Sam Groth in the first round with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 triumph and outlasted the Argentine tennis ace Facundo Bagnis with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 victory in the second round.

With his withdrawal from the tournament, Nadal gave fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers a walkover win and an automatic entry ticket into the last 16 of the prestigious Paris-based tennis event.

Tagsroland garros, rafael nadal, grand slam, atp 2016, atp rankings