Are we living the last chapter of Rafael Nadal’s epic on the land of his greatest exploits? “There is a big, big chance that this will be my last Roland-Garros”declared the Spaniard with fourteen triumphs on Parisian clay on Saturday May 25, on the eve of the 2024 edition.
Asked straight away at a pre-tournament press conference on the hot topic that agitates tennis followers and fans, Nadal suggested that this would be his last Roland-Garros, “but I wouldn’t say I’m 100% sure”he added, before repeating the same thing in Spanish a few minutes later.
“I am able to compete with almost everyone”
“I went through a long recovery process, with a very difficult injury, almost two years of suffering. Now I feel better than I did a month and a half ago. So, in a way, I don’t want to close the door 100%.”explained the Majorcan with 22 Grand Slam titles, almost 38 years old and most often stopped since the summer of 2022, due to repeated injuries.
“I don’t want to create big confusion, but, sorry, I love what I do and I feel competitive in training,” Nadal almost apologized. Probably not yet in official matches. But, in training, I can tell you that I am able to compete with almost everyone. And I don’t feel much worse than the others, that gives me hope.”
“Give me some time and maybe in a month and a half I’ll say, ‘Enough, I can’t continue,’ he continued, but today I cannot guarantee that it is my last.” “I don’t think it will help me personally to say it.” observed the former world number 1 again.
A first match against Zverev
Because a shock against world number 4 Alexander Zverev, one of the fittest players at the moment, awaits him in the first round on Monday. Even on his beloved land, the challenge is monumental for Nadal, who has not won a single trophy since his last coronation at Roland-Garros in 2022, after a fortnight crossing in incredible conditions, left foot anesthetized to contain the pain caused by the chronic illness from which he has suffered since the age of 18 (Müller-Weiss syndrome).
Beyond that, he has played very little since, as his body has broken down on all sides. But if his speech is less pessimistic than a few weeks ago, it is because “Rafa” has seen improvement in training in recent days, he who arrived in Paris on Monday and has multiplied on the courts of the Porte d’Auteuil since then.
Saturday morning, it was the turn of world thirteenth Holger Rune to respond, this time on the Suzanne-Lenglen court. “My body is evolving well, better than I hoped a month and a half ago, I’m not training with too much pain. If it lasts, I can continue to be competitive. But maybe in four days, a month, or two, I’ll get hurt again and feel that it’s no longer worth it and that I have to stop, like I felt a month and a half ago.” he qualified.
Hope for success
So what can we hope for against Zverev from the former world number 1, who has not played a match in three winning sets for almost a year and a half and has not been beaten by a top 5 player since the end of 2022? “This is the first week (since his return) that I feel free to be able to play thinking about the ball and that’s it, without being limited, without thinking about what movement I can do or not. It’s very light luggage. A priori it is very insufficient,” he believes.
But “if, deep in my heart, I had no hope of having success here and doing great things, I would not be here,” admits “Rafa”. “Somehow this place is magical to me, right?”
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