 "Rafael Nadal will be making his final Olympic appearance in Paris this year. Reuters")
Rafael Nadal on Thursday confirmed his decision to skip this year’s Wimbledon, intending to focus on the upcoming Paris Olympics where he will be seen in action at the Roland Garros for the second time this year.
The ‘King of Clay’ was on Wednesday confirmed to feature in the upcoming Olympics in the French capital, where he will be teaming up with reigning French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz besides featuring in the singles competition.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who has won the French Open a record 14 times, confirmed his decision to pull out of the Wimbledon on Thusday, saying he intended to practice on clay in the build-up to the Olympics instead of shifting to grass court.
“During my post match press conference at Roland Garros I was asked about my summer calendar and since then I have been practicing on clay. It was announced yesterday that I will play at the summer Olympics in Paris, my last Olympics.
“With this goal, we believe that the best for my body is not to change surface and keep playing on clay until then. It’s for this reason that I will miss playing at the Championships this year at Wimbledon. I am saddened not to be able to live this year the great atmosphere of that amazing event that will always be in my heart, and be with all the British fans that always gave me great support. I will miss you all,” Nadal wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Nadal added he will be preparing for the Olympics by playing a tournament in Bastad, Sweden.
“In order to prepare for the Olympic Games, I will play the tournament in Bastad, Sweden. A tournament that I played earlier in my career and where I had a great time both on and off the court. Looking forward to seeing you all there,” the 38-year-old added.
Nadal has won the Wimbledon twice — defeating Roger Federer and Tomáš Berdych in 2008 and 2010 respectively. He had missed last year’s Wimbledon as well due to a hip surgery that forced him to miss a majority of the 2023 season as well as the 2024 Australian Open. He had recently suffered a shock first-round exit at the French Open following a defeat against Alexander Zverev.
While Nadal remained unclear on his future after his early exit from the French Open, Zverev would go on to reach the final, where he lost to Alcaraz.