BackFrench Open 2023: Rafael Nadal pulls out due to hip injury, expects to retire in 2024
Since making his debut there in 2005, Nadal -- owner of a record 14 championships at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament -- will miss it for the first time.
PremiumThe 22-time Grand Slam champion, Rafael Nadal, on 18 May announced that he is pulling out of the French Open because of a lingering hip injury, and he expects 2024 to be the final season of his career.
Since making his debut there in 2005, Nadal -- owner of a record 14 championships at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament -- will miss it for the first time.
Delivering the news of his withdrawal to the press at his tennis academy in Spain's Manacor, the 37-year-old said he does not want to set a date for his return to the tennis tour, but expects it to take months.
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He said, "You never know how things will turn out, but my intention is that next year will be my last year."
As per details, Nadal has a career record of 112-3 across 18 appearances at the French Open, a level of dominance unmatched by any man or woman at any Grand Slam event in the long annals of a sport that dates to the 1800s. He became the oldest champion in tournament history, when he won the trophy last year at age 36 while dealing with chronic foot pain.
“I am going to stop, I am not going to train. I am not ready to train," Nadal said, alternating answers in Spanish and English. "These have been many months with many moments of frustration, and I can handle frustration, but there comes a time when you have to stop."
Since 18 January, Nadal hasn’t competed anywhere since he lost to Mackie McDonald in the second round of the Australian Open, when his movement clearly was restricted by a bothersome left hip flexor. That was Nadal’s earliest Grand Slam exit since 2016.
Though he aimed to return at the Monte Carlo Masters in March on his beloved red clay, but he wasn’t able to play there.
With agency inputs.
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