The US Open starts next week and now defending champ Rafael Nadal will be out of the tournament and will not defend his United States Open tennis title in Flushing while dealing with a wrist injury and he made that announcement this week ahead of the opening of the tourney and that means it will be up to Serena Williams to defend her title on the women's side with the men's side losing Nadal.

According to ESPN.com, Nadal has been dealing with a wrist injury and now he will not be able to defend his title at the US Open. Nadal has been out of action over the past month and he sat out of the tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati while trying to recover, but he has not recovered enough top participate in the US Open.

Nadal won the French Open already this year and he said that while he was saddened to pull out, he felt he had to drop based on the injury. Nadal said he had to wear a cast on his wrist for multiple weeks and that has kept him from training and participating in events leading up to the US Open.

Nadal has won the US Open twice and he has gone 44-8 this year and has been playing well, but now the injury will keep him out. Nadal has nine French Open titles after winning this year and he was going for his third US Open before pulling out.

Check here for the US Open schedule and coverage.

"I am sure you understand that it is a very tough moment for me since it is a tournament I love and where I have great memories from fans, the night matches, so many things," Nadal's posting read. "Not much more I can do right now, other than accept the situation and, as always in my case, work hard in order to be able to compete at the highest level once I am back."