“It’s never an easy decision to make. The Spaniard Rafael Nadal, record holder of Grand Slam trophies, 88 cups in all competitions to his credit, gives up participating in the Wimbledon tournament (June 28-July 11) as well as the Tokyo Olympics (July 23- August 8), he said this Thursday on his social networks.
The recent unhappy semi-finalist of Roland-Garros, aged 35, must now “let his body recover”. “The goal is to extend my career and continue to do what makes me happy, which is to play at the highest level,” he writes.
The Olympic champion in singles in 2008 and in doubles in 2016, winner of 20 Grand Slam titles, has resolved to take a break. “After listening to my body and discussing it with my team, I have to admit it’s the right decision,” he says.
The Spaniard does not specifically indicate in his communication whether he suffers from an injury, but refers to the close schedules between Roland Garros and Wimbledon to justify his absence from the London grass tournament which he won twice (2008 and 2010).
“Continue to fight for the highest level”
“It has just passed two months of great efforts and the decision that I am taking in the medium and long term. Preventing any form of excess in my body is a very important factor at this stage of my career in trying to keep fighting for the highest level of competition and titles ”.
Nadal has suffered in recent seasons from knee injuries which have sometimes kept him away from the field for a long time. The Spaniard had already had to withdraw from the London Games in 2012, due to a knee problem. He was the flag bearer of the Spanish delegation during the last Rio Olympics in 2016.
In his message Thursday, Nadal greets his fans in England and Japan and recalls that the Games “have always been a priority for (him) as an athlete, finding a state of mind that every athlete in the world hopes to live”.
