Rafael Nadal’s body doesn’t want to hear anything: the 37-year-old Spaniard waited until the last moment but had to resolve on Thursday April 4 to forfeit the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo which is to be held from April 7 to 14 . The tennis player no longer hides his great concern for the future.
“Unfortunately, I have to tell you that I am not going to play in Monte-Carlo. My body just doesn’t allow me to do it.”the champion announced on social networks, accompanying his short text with a short video of him training – without much physical intensity, however – at his academy on the island of Mallorca.
“And although I continue to work and give my best every day, hoping to be able to play the tournaments that meant so much to me, the reality is that to this day I cannot”he continues.
His participation in Roland-Garros also compromised?
A statement heavy with implication because we certainly hear his disappointment at not being able to play the Monte-Carlo tournament, but we now perceive his fear of not being able to compete at Roland-Garros where he won fourteen of his 22 Grand Slam titles.
The hour of retirement having already begun to ring, Nadal seems to want to constrain his body one last time to allow him to bow out on his favorite stage of the Philippe-Chatrier court, on the occasion of the next Roland-Garros which will be held from May 20 to June 9, or even the Paris Olympic Games this summer.
Because since his extravagant coronation in 2022, where he played with an anesthetized foot to finally bring the record for Grand Slam titles won among men to 22, Nadal has gone from disappointment to disappointment. And this time, his desire to retire on his own terms and not under the inevitable dictates of his body, tormented by years and years of superhuman efforts, seems shaken.
“All I have to do is accept the situation and look to the immediate future while continuing to maintain hope and the desire to give myself a chance for things to improve,” he conceded to conclude his message. Since the 2022 French Open, he has not won a single tournament and has only appeared very sporadically on the courts.
Body injuries
“I am sad, for the fans who will not have the chance to see him, but especially for him because this Monte-Carlo tournament is really important for him,” declared the director of the Monegasque competition David Massey. “I know he did everything to be ready for the tournament, so we wish him the best,” he added.
For a long time, this first tournament of the season on clay served as a launching pad for Nadal towards Roland-Garros: between 2005 and 2018, he won the Masters 1,000 eleven times and on nine occasions he then lifted the Grand Cup. Slam on earth.
To date, his last public appearance on a court dates back to Sunday March 4 in Las Vegas, during an exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz broadcast by Netflix. Observers had noted back discomfort which has clearly not gone away since.
