Fifth-ranked Simona Halep on the women’s side and No. 7 Milos Raonic for the men announced their decisions after their names were listed on the ITF’s roster.
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The 14-time Grand Slam victor has not played since pulling out of the French Open in May.
“It is because of the Zika virus spread in the country of the Olympics”, Berdych said as he explained why he would not be attending the games.
“This was a hard, personal choice and I do not wish for it to impact the decision of any other athlete heading to the Games”. “Family is much too important for me and I can’t risk not being able to have one of my own after my career in tennis is over”.
The duo both believe the mosquito-borne Zika virus is a huge concern and they have followed a number of golfers who have pulled out of the Games.
Dominic Thiem is the other member of the top 10 to skip the Games, while John Isner, Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic, Feliciano Lopez and Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon conqueror Sam Querrey will all be absent, although none cited Zika as their main reason.
On Twitter, he said “to limit health risks towards my dearest is the utmost priority”.
He joined Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, and Rory McIlroy in also saying Zika was the main reason for making themselves unavailable for the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years.
“Nadal’s commitment is total and he will go to Rio to participate”, said Alejandro Blanco, the president of Spain’s Olympic committee.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion had not met the qualifying criteria, which involves a set number of Davis Cup appearances in an Olympic cycle.
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However, he is still recovering from a left wrist injury which caused an early withdrawal from the French Open as well as forcing him to sit out Wimbledon.
