Rafael Nadal on Thursday confirmed that he will not be participating in the upcoming French Open as he continues to recover from a hip injury. Nadal has won the Roland Garros an incredible 14 times in his career but it will be the first time since 2004 that he won’t be participating at the French Open.
The 22-Grand Slam winner confirmed that he will miss the Roland Garros while addressing a press conference. The Spaniard also revealed that is likely to be on the sidelines for a while, before hinting that 2023 might be the last season of his playing career.
“I’m not going to be able to play Roland Garros. We were not able to find the solution to the problem I had in Australia," stated the legendary tennis star.
“Last four months have been difficult. Not going to be able to play at Roland Garros. Real situation was that … after pandemic, body was not able to hold practices and diary work. Too many problems," added the Spaniard.
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“Having to stop due to physical issues. My decision is to stop. Stop for a while. may be month and half maybe four months. Not a person to predict. Don’t want to put myself in a position to say one thing and do another thing. Next year is going to be my last year on professional tour. That’s my idea," stated Nadal further.
He further affirmed that he hopes to feature at the Paris Olympics next year. Nadal had sustained a hip injury in the second-round defeat at the Australian Open earlier this year and has been on the sidelines ever since.
The legendary athlete had recently announced that he would pull out of the ongoing Italian Open.
Nadal’s manager had stated that he’d require two months to fully recover from the setback but as fate would have it, not only did the Spanish legend miss the Monte Carlo Masters it seems he is set to be sidelined for a while.
Having won 112 matches and dropping just 3 during 18 editions of the Roland Garros, the latest setback comes as a major blow to Nadal. More recently, the 36-year-old has been struggling having lost seven of his past nine games.