Rafael Nadal News: Tennis Star Ends 2014 Season With Surgery, What’s Next?

Fourteen-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal has ended his 2014 season. The 28-year-old Spaniard announced Friday he will have appendix surgery on Nov. 3, thus ruling him out for the ATP’s final two events this year.

"I'm not going to Paris and London - I'm not competitive enough," Nadal said after he fell to Croatia’s Borna Coric in the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors.

Nadal will sit out the Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals, but will hold on to his No. 3 world ranking with nearly 3,000 more points than No. 4 Stan Wawrinka.

Enduring a wrist injury over the last several months, Nadal’s stint at the Swiss Indoors was only his third tournament appearance since Wimbledon. In each tournament he was bounced from the quarterfinals or before, and according to BBC News he started to take antibiotics for his appendix earlier this month.

After his incredible run last year resulted in 10 singles titles and a 75-7 record, Nadal slowed down significantly this season. He once again dominated the French Open, winning his record ninth slam, and reached the Australian Open final before that, but was bounced early yet again at Wimbledon and missed the U.S. Open entirely.

Opting for surgery now, rather than risk his condition worsening in Paris or London, was likely a smart move for Nadal. He remained on the sidelines for much of the second half of the 2012 season due to a knee injury, and exploded back on the scene for arguably the best season of his career.