Rafael Nadal to skip French Open for the first time since 2005, plans to retire next year

“That’s my idea, I can’t say that 100 per cent it’s going to be like this because you never know what is going to happen, but my motivation is to try to enjoy and to try to say goodbye to all the tournaments that have been important to me in my tennis career,” a sombre-looking Nadal said at a press conference. The Spaniard did not provide a defined time period for his comeback.

The hip problem is the latest in a string of injury crises that have plagued the last two years of his career, including minor surgery and radioactive treatment for his chronic foot problem, as well as a broken rib and an abdominal tear.

Nadal’s medical team had estimated a recovery period of six to eight weeks in February, which would have meant he would be fit to return to the European summer clay swing that he dominated for long. But as the weeks went by, he could not find any solution for his injury in time to return for the tournament that has defined his legacy.

“I was working as much as possible every single day for the last four months and they have been very difficult months,” a sombre looking Nadal said on Thursday. “I am still in the position where I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards I need to be to play at Roland Garros.”

The Spaniard has shown sparks of captivating tennis in between his problems, going on a remarkable comeback run in the first half of last year to win both the Australian Open and French Open. But the physical and mental toll of his decaying physicality has led to major questions about his future – questions he put to rest on Thursday.

End of an era

His withdrawal from the French Open, meanwhile, marks the end of one of the greatest runs in modern sporting history, as Nadal, 36, will fail to play the Grand Slam in Paris for the first time since he won it on debut as a teenager in 2005.

Since then, Nadal has won a record 14 singles championships at Roland Garros, doing so without dropping a set four times. He has won 112 of the 115 matches he has played in Paris, and won the tournament four consecutive times on three different occasions and stages of his career.

Nobody has dominated one of the world’s biggest sporting events in any other major global sport quite like Nadal has at Roland Garros, but pure numbers – as extraordinary as they may be – do not do justice to the Spaniard’s mastery of the Parisian red clay.

Played in punishing summer conditions on bouncy and slippery clay, the French Open is not only the most physically demanding of the four Major tournaments on the tennis calendar, but also requires greater adaptability. Pure technical ability or physical prowess are not rewarded on clay as much as point construction and tactical adjustment in footwork and shot selection that comes with the meticulous preparation and execution that Nadal is famous for.

His ability to stay competitive and make effective adjustments in matches, when he was being outhit or outplayed, was not merely a product of his mental strength, but also thanks to his methodical approach to tennis in general. And those same traits – of tenacity and competitiveness – likely led to his decision to withdraw.

After he had to withdraw from the last pre-French Open tuneup in Rome last week, he would have had to enter the tournament without playing a single point on clay since last year. He revealed that mere participation is of no value, and he would have only entered the tournament if he felt he had a chance to win.

“I am not a guy who is going to be at Roland Garros and just try to be there and put myself in a position I don’t like to be in,” he explained.

His absence in Paris will be a big blow for the tournament that has depended on his captivating presence as a major crowd-puller in the past, but it opens up the draw for other challengers. Nadal’s countryman and World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz has emerged as one of the sport’s next big stars and will be hoping to win a second Major on his best surface in Paris, as will other next-generation contenders like Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Casper Ruud.

Meanwhile, the door will be open for Novak Djokovic, himself going through physical problems and a lean patch of form, to win a third Roland Garros title and take the lead in the all-time Grand Slam race. Both him and Nadal are tied at 22 Majors as things stand.

The latest development, though, is of much greater significance than just the upcoming Majors. After the retirements of Roger Federer and Serena Williams last year, it marks the end of an unprecedented era of domination from a select few at the summit of the sport, giving tennis a global reach and making top tennis players global superstars.

For all he has done on court, Nadal’s legacy is set in stone. But will his body allow him to say goodbye to the grand stage he made his own, on his own terms?