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By Jonathan Georgko, BBC Sport, May 18, 2023, 15:07 GMT
Updated 36 minutes ago
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Rafael Nadal withdraws from the French Open and plans to retire in 2024
Rafael Nadal will miss the French Open for the first time in 19 years after a thigh injury ruled out the 14-time men’s singles champion.
The 36-year-old Spaniard, who has won 22 major titles, said he plans to retire after the 2024 season.
“I didn’t make the decision, my body made the decision. Playing Roland Garros is impossible,” he said.
“Next year will probably be my last year. That’s my idea. If I keep working now, I won’t be able to make it.”
Nadal holds the joint record for the number of major wins for men alongside Serbian Novak Djokovic. He has won a further 70 ATP titles and spent 209 weeks as the world number one – the sixth longest in ATP history.
Known as the “King of Clay”, Nadal has won 112 out of 115 matches at the French Open.
However, the Mallorca left-back has not played since the hip problem persisted at the Australian Open in January.
Nadal has been training in recent weeks, but he was not fit enough to play a tournament in the lead-up to Roland Garros.
The French Open begins in Paris on May 28th and runs until June 11th.
“I’ve been working every day as much as I can for the past four months and it’s been difficult because we couldn’t find a solution to the problems I had in Australia,” he added.
“I’m still in a position where I can’t feel ready to compete at the standards I need to play at Roland Garros.
“I’m not the guy who’s going to be at Roland Garros just to try to be there and in a situation I don’t like to be in.”
Nadal said he needs to stop playing for the foreseeable future in order to fully recover and complete his bye season planned for 2024.
His participation in Wimbledon this year is still in doubt. The tournaments, which Nadal won in 2008 and 2010, start at the All England Club on July 3 and run until July 16.
“I’ll hold off for a while, maybe a month and a half, maybe two months, maybe three months or maybe four months. I don’t know. I don’t like to predict the future,” he said.
“I will do the right thing for my body and my personal happiness.
“My goal and ambition is to try to stop and give myself a chance to enjoy next year.
“This is my idea but I can’t say with 100% that it will be like this. My idea is to try to have fun and say goodbye to all the tournaments that were important to me.”
Nadal injured his thigh during a second-round defeat by American Mackenzie McDonald in Melbourne and was initially expected to be out for six to eight weeks.
An MRI scan two days after the match showed a torn left lumbar muscle.
Last month, Nadal announced that he would not be able to play the Madrid Open because the injury “has not yet healed” and he was planning a different course of treatment.
He then pulled out of this month’s Italian Open – another important clay-court tournament ahead of the French Open – saying he still could not train to a high level.
On Thursday, he announced that he would miss Roland Garros for the first time in his career, at a press conference at his academy in Mallorca.
Nadal won the French Open title on his debut there in 2005, and has been victorious 13 more times in 17 years.
No player has won as many singles titles at a major tournament as the Spaniard at Roland Garros.
Roland Garros tournament director Amelie Mauresmo described the decision as “heartbreaking”.
We will really miss seeing Rafael Nadal, whose fate is closely linked to that of Roland Garros.
“I can only imagine the pain and sadness he must feel after having to make such a difficult decision.
“We hope to see him at Roland Garros next year.”
“Nadal hopes for more titles” – Analysis
Russell Fuller, BBC Tennis Correspondent
By missing the French Open for the first time since 2004, Nadal is hoping to be in a position to win his 15th title in Paris this time next year.
He desperately wants to be in Melbourne, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Wimbledon and New York next year to say goodbye. But you just know he’s desperately hoping to win those championships one last time.
However, it is not very encouraging to hear him say no solution has been found for the hip problem.
And when he admitted that pain had prevented him from enjoying both practice and competition in recent years, it reminded me of Andy Murray: who took a break from the sport, surgery in his case, to improve – above all – his quality. life.
Tennis is beginning to adjust to the loss of Serena Williams and Roger Federer. And now there will be a Rafael Nadal-sized gap in the summer schedule.
But if he gives us another year, it will be worth the wait.
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