Rafael Nadal, the 14-time French Open men’s singles champion, will not compete in this year’s edition of the event that has defined his career because of an injury that has sidelined him for months.
Nadal, who has competed in Paris every year since 2005 and has an astonishing record of 112-3 at Roland Garros, made the announcement in a news conference on Thursday at his tennis academy on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Nadal said he would further extend his break from the game to try to get healthy and then attempt to play next season, which he said “probably is going to be my last year in the professional tour”.
“That’s my idea,” he said. “Even that, I can’t say that 100 per cent it’s going to be like this because you never know what is going to happen, but my idea and motivation is to try to enjoy and to try to say goodbye to all the tournaments that have been important to me in my tennis career.”
His withdrawal from the French Open, which is scheduled to begin on May 28, was not a surprise. He has not played since suffering an injury to his lower abdomen and right leg at the Australian Open in January. But the reality of the announcement, and his approaching absence from the red clay he has ruled for so long, jolted the tennis world.
“The evolution of the injury I sustained in Australia has not gone as I would have liked. I have lost goals along the way, and Roland Garros becomes impossible.
“I was working as much as possible every single day for the last four months and they have been very difficult months,” Nadal said.
“Today I am still in the position where I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards I need to be to play at Roland Garros.”
Nadal won last year’s French Open to claim his 22nd grand slam singles title, and he has repeatedly called the tournament, the year’s second major, the most important of his career. His absence will create a massive void that the statue of him just steps away from the main stadium ensures will be a theme throughout the event.
Nadal made it clear that he did not want to play the tournament with no realistic chance of being truly competitive. “I am not a guy who is going to be at Roland Garros and just try to be there and put myself in a position I don’t like to be in,” he said.
Nadal said that after pushing himself through pain to try to get ready for the French Open, he will now take an extended break from practice in an attempt to get healthy.
“I don’t know when I will be able to come back to the practice court,” he said. “Maybe two months. Maybe one month and a half. Maybe three months. I don’t know.
“I’m not the guy who likes to predict the future but I am just following what I really believe is the right thing to do for my body and for my personal happiness.”
New York Times News Service
