In 2011, Ferrero withdrew from the Heineken Open and Australian Open. As the defending champion, he withdrew from the Brasil Open and Copa Claro. He also withdrew from the Abierto Mexicano, Indian Wells, Miami Masters, and Monte Carlo Masters as the recovery from his wrist and knee surgery took longer than expected. He made his return at the Barcelona Open, where he defeated Xavier Malisse, 6–4, 6–1, Mischa Zverev, 6–4, 7–5, and Simone Vagnozzi, 7–6(7–3), 4–6, 6–4, but lost in the quarterfinals to Nicolás Almagro, 3–6, 3–6. His next tournament was the Madrid Open, where he lost in the first round to Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker, 6–2, 5–7, 4–6, after which he indicated that the end of tennis career might be near. He missed the Rome Masters, French Open, and Wimbledon due to same injury. His ranking dropped to No. 85. He returned to competition at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. There, he defeated Bastian Knittel, Mikhail Youzhny, Marcel Granollers, Federico Delbonis and in the final countryman Pablo Andújar, 6–4, 6–0, to capture the Stuttgart title. Right after this win he went to the German Open Hamburg, where he lost in the first round to Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, 3–6, 2–6. As the defending champion, he reached the semifinals of the Croatia Open losing to eventual champion Alexandr Dolgopolov 4–6, 4–6. At the Rogers Cup, he lost to Ernests Gulbis, 6–3, 1–6, 5–7 and at the Cincinnati Masters to Feliciano López 6–4, 3–6, 4–6 both in the first round.