TENNIS
What injury does Rafa Nadal have and how long is he out for?
The Spaniard has announced that he will not play in the French Open, saying “the injury I suffered in Australia has not gone how we hoped.”
Fourteen-time Roland Garros winner, Rafa Nadal, will not play at the French Open, he has announced. The tennis star failed to recover from an injury that he suffered in January and announced his decision at a press conference on Thursday, just days before the tournament begins on May 28. “It’s not a decision I made, it’s a decision my body made”, he said.
Nadal had aimed to be fit in a timeframe of between 6 and 8 weeks, but the injury he suffered against Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open has taken longer than expected. Nadal won the Roland Garros in 2022 while suffering from chronic foot pain and became the oldest champion in the history of the tournament.
What injury does Nadal have? How long is he out for?
The 36-year-old is suffering from a hip flexor injury sustained in January, which causes pain and limited mobility. Nadal has competed in just four matches in 2023, winning only once. It is not known when he will be fit to return to playing, with Nadal himself saying that “I am not going to put a date on my return... I am going to stop, I am not going to train. I am not ready to train.”
He has competed at the tournament in France every year since 2005, which was the first time he won it and has only lost there three times in his career, racking up an incredible 112-3 record.
Did Nadal say when he will retire?
Nadal hinted heavily at retirement, saying that next season “probably is going to be my last year in the professional tour”, while also adding, “I can’t say that 100 percent 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.”
Nadal, who won the French Open last year, continued: “I was working as much as possible every single day for the last four months and they have been very difficult months because we were not able to find the solution to the problem I had in Australia... 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.”