Bengaluru, June 15: French Open champion Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Aegon Championships at Queen's, which starts next Monday (June 19) to rest his body in preparation for Wimbledon.

Rafael Nadal has moved two places to take the second position in the recently released ATP rankings and reached the spot for the first time since October 2014.

The Spaniard has supplanted Novak Djokovic, the previous year's French Open champion, who has dropped two points and in the current rankings is at the fourth position, which is his lowest ranking in seven years.

However, the 15 times Grand Slam winner who recently completed his La Decima as the Roland Garros suggested that after consulting his team and doctor, he opted to miss next week's event in order to maintain his fitness for Wimbledon.

Nadal said: “I am very sorry to say that I am not going to be able play Queen's next week. I was hoping to take some days off and then be ready.

"But, at 31, and after a long clay-court season with all of the emotions of Roland Garros, and after speaking to my team and doctor, I have decided my body needs to rest if I am going to be ready to play Wimbledon.

“I am sad to make this decision because I love Queen's. I won the tournament in 2008 and every time I reached the Wimbledon final it was after playing Queen's."

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The Aegon Championships will feature many of the top players including world number one and defending champion Andy Murray, U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka, 2014 winner Grigor Dimitrov, and last year's runner-up Milos Raonic. The tournament will start on 20th July.

Nadal won this championship back in the 2008 and every time he reached the Wimbledon final it was after playing Queen's however, with so much injury crisis in recent years, it is surely a wise decision to recharge his battery and regain his fitness to boost up everything for the next Grandslam, Wimbledon.

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