2023-05-18 16:08:45
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Injured, Rafael Nadal announced Thursday that he will not participate in Roland-Garros. A first for the Spanish player who won this Grand Slam tournament fourteen times. The player has also announced that he plans to retire “for next year”, in 2024.
Rafael Nadal, fourteen record trophies at Roland-Garros, injured and off the circuit for four months, will not participate in the next Parisian Grand Slam tournament, his beloved playground, he announced Thursday, May 18, ten days before kick off of the competition. He also warned that “next year”, 2024, would be “probably the last” of his career.
“The injury I suffered in Australia hasn’t evolved as we wanted, so I won’t be able to be there at Roland-Garros,” the 36-year-old Spaniard told a press conference in Mallorca. years, who also announced that “next year will probably be the last year” of his career. Rafael Nadal, who has won 22 Grand Slams like Novak Djokovic, is suffering from a left hip injury that has plagued him since January.
He added that he would be unavailable “for the next few months”, thus ruling out his participation at least at Wimbledon.
Absent from competitions for four months
It’s a thunderclap in the world of tennis. Because since his first coronation on Parisian clay in 2005, two days after his 19th birthday, Nadal has never failed Porte d’Auteuil. He accumulated 112 victories there and only had three defeats (in 2009, 2015 and 2021), plus a package during the tournament (2016, because of his left wrist).
A year ago, even an anesthetized left foot to contain the pain caused by the chronic pain he has suffered from since the age of 18 (Müller-Weiss syndrome) did not prevent him from triumphing there for the fourteenth times, and for the 22e times in Grand Slam – record shared with Novak Djokovic since.
“We will definitely miss you at Roland-Garros this year, reacted the organizers of Roland Garros. “Take care of yourself to come back stronger on the courts. We hope to see you again next year in Paris.”
Rafa,
We can’t imagine how hard this decision was. We’ll definitely miss you at this year’s Roland-Garros. Take care of yourself to come back stronger on courts.
Hoping to see you next year in Paris ???? pic.twitter.com/lTN3GExBFo
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 18, 2023
The 36-year-old Majorcan – he will be 37 in the middle of Roland-Garros on June 3 – has not appeared in competition for four months flat. His last match, a three-set loss in the second round of the Australian Open to American Mackenzie McDonald, in which he was injured, dates back precisely to January 18.
With AFP
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