India, March 7 -- Rafael Nadal's comeback has faced another hiccup as the Spaniard pulled out ahead of his Indian Wells first round match, on Thursday. Stating that he isn't 'ready to play at the highest level', the 37-year-old also pulled out earlier from the ATP 250 event in Doha in late February but did play against Carlos Alcaraz in the Netflix Slam exhibition match.

Nadal was out for almost a year due to a hip flexor injury, and returned to action in Brisbane in January, but missed the Australian Open due to injury.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Nadal wrote, "It is with great sadness that I have to withdraw from this amazing tournament at Indian Wells. Everyone knows how much I love this place and how much I love to play ...