Nadal will not defend French Open title
Hip injury rules out Spaniard for the first time since his debut at Roland Garros in 2005
Rafael Nadal yesterday withdrew from the French Open because his hip injury had not healed and said he expected 2024 to be his final year in professional tennis.
“It’s not a decision I’m taking, it’s a decision my body is taking,” the 36-year-old Spanish superstar, who has played at the clay-court major every year since 2005 and won it 14 times, said.
Nadal said he was taking a few months off before starting to play again.
“It’s probably going to be my last year on the professional tour, I can’t say this 100 per cent because you never know what’s going to happen,” he told a news conference.
Nadal had been working to recover for the French Open at his Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Mallorca.
But there was little optimism to be found, as he scratched warm-up events from his calendar like dominoes tumbling, after the problem he suffered in January at the Australian Open.
First, he skipped hard-court Masters events in the US, Indian Wells and Miami, but Nadal was still not ready for the clay season, missing Monte Carlo, Barcelona and then the Madrid Open.
The Italian Open presented a last chance for Nadal to prove his fitness ahead of Roland Garros, but the 36-year-old was forced to pull out, even though he said his new treatment programme was making some progress.
Before yesterday’s media conference by Nadal, Spanish sports website Relevo said: “He will miss the most important tournament of his career.” Other Spanish outlets had followed suit in predicting he would pull out of the French Open.
Tennis fans had hoped Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who are tied for most grand slam titles each, would be able to battle for a record-extending 23rd at Roland Garros, but the odds of that had looked slim. Instead, there are worries that injuries are hastening the end of Nadal’s career.
Nadal has battled his way through knee, wrist and foot problems through his career, although over the past year his physical problems have accelerated.