Can Nadal battle the pain and retire on his terms?

The French Open has a build-up unlike the other Slams. It takes time, even for the best in the business, to adjust to the slow and slippery clay after playing on hard courts for the first three months of the year. April onwards, leading up to Roland-Garros, the ATP Tour had scheduled seven 250 (Houston, Marrakech, Estoril, Munich, Banja Luka, Geneva, Lyon), one 500 (Barcelona) and three Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome) events this year.

The pertinent question

However, the conversation regarding the clay Major had begun in January itself when Rafael Nadal, defending Australian Open champion, went down 4-6, 4-6, 5-7 to USA’s Mackenzie “Mackie” McDonald in the second round in Melbourne while also sustaining a hip injury — will he make it to Paris, the city where he has lifted the coveted La Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy a record 14 times?

The Spaniard, who turns 37 next month, has had bad luck in Australia with injuries in 2010 (right knee), 2011 (hamstring), 2013 (stomach virus), 2014 (back) and 2018 (right leg). But unlike those seasons, Nadal’s return to court kept getting delayed this year as he continued to recover from the hip flexor issue and missed all clay events.

Eventually, last Thursday, in a press conference at his academy in Manacor, Mallorca, the former World No. 1 said, “The evolution of the injury I sustained in Australia has not gone as I would have liked. I have lost goals along the way, and Roland-Garros becomes impossible.”

Nadal had twice missed his French Open debut — with a right elbow injury in 2003 and stress fracture in 2004 — until he finally mesmerised the Parisian crowd with his dazzling performance as a teenager in 2005. Since then, he has been a constant presence at Roland-Garros with his phenomenal record extending year-by-year.

This time, in his absence, the men’s field has only two former champions — Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (2016, 2021) and Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka (2015).

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz, who was a two-year-old when compatriot Nadal won in 2005, and other players like Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune and Casper Ruud will fancy their chances.

Nadal, however, expects the tournament to be “a big success”. “Roland-Garros will always be Roland-Garros with or without me… there will be a new champion.”

Nadal’s body finally says ‘no’

When Nadal had burst onto the scene, there were questions regarding how sustainable his style of play would be in the long run.

Ouch, that hurts! Nadal has been forced to miss a few Grand Slams due to injury, Roland-Garros and Wimbledon 2023 the latest.
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His willingness to “suffer” and show no mercy on himself in order to keep a seemingly finished rally going with his astounding court coverage was quite evident from the beginning of his career. While he did prove his doubters wrong and managed to extend his career to the wrong side of 30s, the hip injury might just be it.

“You can´t keep demanding more and more from your body because there comes a moment when your body raises a white flag. Even though your head wants to keep going, your body says this is as far as it goes,” he said.

Since making his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon in 2003, the Spaniard has missed 13 Majors with this year’s French Open and Wimbledon the latest additions. This list is expected to grow longer with Nadal having no plans of playing in the coming months.

‘Big Three’ era to end soon?

Only eight months ago, Nadal and fellow 22-time Major winner Djokovic had played alongside Roger Federer at the Laver Cup in the Swiss maestro’s final professional appearance on a tennis court. With the Spaniard ruling himself out probably for the rest of the 2023 season, this marks another significant point in the ‘Big Three’ era.

Djokovic, too, turns 36 on Monday (May 22) and while he still looks in shape to compete at the highest level, the Serbian has recently faced issues with his elbow. He also played the entire 2023 Australian Open with a three-centimetre tear in his hamstring.

2024, the year Nadal says goodbye?

Nadal, who became a father last year, hopes to give himself a chance to retire on his own terms by recovering in time for the 2024 season, probably his last on the Tour.

“I don’t deserve to end my career like this, in a press conference,” he said. He wishes to play all those tournaments which have made him “happy”.

Comebacks in tennis after long injury layoffs are not easy and the Spaniard knows it. He has experienced it many times in the past. His 2022 Australian Open title had come after missing the second half of the 2021 season due to chronic pain in his left foot, a condition known as the Muller-Weiss syndrome.

However, if he comes back next year, there will be the overbearing emotion of playing every event for the last time. Whether he will be able to shake off that feeling, focus on the task at hand and try winning another Slam remains to be seen.

The year 2024 also brings with it an opportunity for Nadal to play at Roland-Garros twice in the space of a few months since the tennis event of the Paris Olympics is also scheduled to take place there post the French Open.

Nadal, who has previously clinched gold medals in men’s singles at Beijing Olympics (2008) and men’s doubles at the Rio Games (2016), said, “The Paris Olympics is one of the competitions I want to be at. I don’t know if that will be my last tournament.”

Battles with injuries off the court have run parallel with Nadal’s duels on court. Can he do it one last time?