By Victor Kanayo
King of Clay court, Rafael Nadal has announced he will not feature at the upcoming French Open for the first time in 19 years after a hip injury ruled out the record 14-time men’s singles champion.
Retirement Plans
The 36-year-old Spaniard, who has won 22 major men’s titles, also said he plans to retire after the 2024 season.
“I didn’t make the decision, my body made the decision. To play Roland Garros is impossible,” he said.
“Next year will probably be my last year, that is my idea. If I keep going now I won’t be able to make it happen.”
Nadal’s Many Titles
Nadal holds the joint record number of men’s major triumphs alongside Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.
He has won 70 other ATP titles and spent 209 weeks at world number one – the sixth longest amount in ATP history.
Nadal who has won 112 of his 115 matches at the French Open, had been seen practising on clay in a bid to be fit to defend his title, where he is a 14-time champion.
After last year’s US Open, he only returned at the end of the season to play at the Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals.
Nadal’s withdrawal means he will drop out of the top 100 in the world rankings.
Djokovic Time To Takeover
With the absense of Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are the favourites to win Roland-Garros this year.
Djokovic has won the French Open twice in his career, while world No. 1 Alcaraz is looking to build on winning a second major at the US Open last summer.
Djokovic had crashed out of the Italian Open few days ago after losing a rain-interrupted and occasionally heated match against Holger Rune in the quarter-final.
With his latest not-too-impressive performance, he has reportedly dropped off from world number one spot.
