It is on his island of Majorca, in his tennis academy, that “Rafa” gave an appointment to the press, at 4:00 p.m., to communicate “his decision to participate or not in Roland-Garros, as well as the reasons for his choice, whatever it is”, according to a press release sent Wednesday at the start of the evening.
The eventual announcement of his withdrawal from the tournament in which he built the most dizzying part of his legend would inevitably sound like a thunderclap.
Because since his first coronation on Parisian clay in 2005, two days after his 19th birthday, Nadal has never failed Porte d’Auteuil. He accumulated 112 victories there and only had three defeats (in 2009, 2015 and 2021), plus a package during the tournament (2016, because of his left wrist).
37 years in full Roland-Garros
A year ago, even an anesthetized left foot to contain the pain caused by the chronic pain he has suffered from since the age of 18 (Müller-Weiss syndrome) did not prevent him from triumphing there for the fourteenth times, and for the 22nd time in a Grand Slam – a record shared with Novak Djokovic since.
Inevitably, his absence in Paris would reactivate speculation about the rest of his career and the potential imminence of his retirement from sport.
Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal pictured during training ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia on January 12, 2023AFP/Archives / William WEST.
This is not the time for optimism at all, since the 36-year-old Mallorcan – he will be 37 in the middle of Roland-Garros on June 3 – has not appeared in competition for exactly four months, the blame it on a stubborn muscle injury to the left hip (iliopsoas muscle). His last match, a three-set loss in the second round of the Australian Open to American Mackenzie McDonald, in which he was injured, dates back precisely to January 18.
Initially assessed at between six and eight weeks, his absence has only stretched since, like the list of his forced capitulations, from the American tour on hard (Indian Wells and Miami) to the European season on ochre, from Monte-Carlo to Rome, via Barcelona and Madrid. And now Roland-Garros?
Only one victory in 2023
The last time he spoke, a dozen days ago, to announce that he would not play in the Italian capital, Nadal had given rise to a glimmer of hope by evoking “an improvement noted in recent days”, without going into more detail. But “I haven’t been able to train at a high level for many months, the recovery process takes time and I have no choice but to accept it and continue working”he resigned himself in the same message.
Until then, his 2023 record is starving: a single victory, and four matches played.
Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal pictured during the Wimbledon Championships in Wimbledon (UK) on July 6, 2022AFP/Archives / Glyn KIRK.
Although injuries have often caught up with him throughout the more than twenty years of his exceptional career, they have given him almost no respite for a year, from his foot to his left hip, including two abdominal tears. ‘last summer. In nine months, he has only played thirteen matches (a Grand Slam title requires winning seven) and lost eight. In the standings, he has slipped, for the moment, to fourteenth place.
Even if he decided to try his luck at Roland-Garros, he would find himself at the foot of an Everest: the Spaniard has never landed on his beloved playground without the slightest match on ocher in his legs.
So everything leads us to believe that we risk, for the fifth time only in nineteen editions, not seeing “Rafa” sinking our teeth into the Coupe des Mousquetaires at the end of the Paris fortnight.
