What’s next for Rafa Nadal after losing in the French Open?
The ‘King of Clay’ suffered a painful loss to Alexander Zverev in this year’s debut in the second Grand Slam tournament of the year.
After his French Open first-round defeat to Alexander Zverev, Rafa Nadal returned to Manacor to take some days off before resuming activity with his sights on the Olympic Games in Paris. If he doesn’t change his plans, the Manacor native will play his next tournament, from July 27 to August 4.
“I don’t think it’s going to be smart after all the things that happen to my body to make a transition to a completely different surface, then come back to clay”, Nadal said when asked if he would play in Wimbledon (July 1-14).
Before the Games -where he also wants to compete in the doubles tournament alongside Carlos Alcaraz-, some events will be held on clay from July 15-21. The ATP 500 Hamburg event and the 250 ones in Gstaad and Bastad will take place on those dates, so Rafa could decide to play in one of them to get in good shape before participating in the Olympics’ tennis tournament, which will take place at the French Open facilities. There are two more 250 clay events in Umag and Kitzbuhel From July 22-27.
Nadal’s objectives after the Olympics: Laver Cup and Davis Cup
Nadal committed to playing with Team Europe in the Laver Cup, which will take place from September 20 to 22 in Berlin, where Alcaraz will also be present. The question is whether Rafa will decide to participate sooner in the US Open (August 26-September 8), although now it seems unlikely.
The culmination of the year for him could be the Davis Cup. Spain will play the group stage in Valencia from September 10 to 15 and could play the Davis finals in Malaga from November 19 to 24.
Besides the Laver Cup and the Davis Cup, Rafa is also on the stars list for the 6 Kings Slam, an exhibition event that will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), in October. Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, and Holger Rune will join him. The 22-time major winner is an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation and will open a branch of his academy in that country.