Nadal withdraws from Roland Garros and reveals retirement timeline

Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who won the Roland Garros tennis title 14 times, announced his withdrawal from the 2023 tournament due to the fact that he did not recover from injury, and will miss a major tournament for the first time since his coronation in 2005.

Nadal struggled to recover from a hip injury he suffered on 18 January in the second round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam, and has since been out of action (he lost to American Mackenzie McDonald in three sets).

“The injury I suffered in Australia didn’t develop as we hoped, so I won’t be able to play at Roland Garros,” the 36-year-old told a press conference on Thursday. “It wasn’t my decision, but my body”.

“Next year will probably be my last in my career,” he said, sitting on a chair at his Rafael Nadal academy in Mallorca. This is the best thing you can do for my body and my personal happiness.

“We couldn’t find a solution to the problem I had in Australia. I don’t feel ready to compete at a high level at Roland Garros. he shares with Serbian Novak Djokovic.

Since his first coronation at Roland Garros in 2005, two days after he turned nineteen, Nadal has never lost sight of the tournament he loves with all his heart and where he created his legend.

He has 112 victories at Roland Garros and only suffered three defeats in 2009, 2015 and 2021, in addition to having to pull out of the 2016 season with a broken left wrist.

Nadal won his last title at Roland Garros last year when his left leg went numb to deal with the chronic pain he’s suffered from since he was eighteen (Müller-Weiss syndrome).

Source: AFP.