Google News
There are fewer and fewer weeks left for the start of the Roland Garros 2023, the long-awaited second Grand Slam of the year. However, the Grand Slam on clay could start off on the wrong foot, with the most sensational of forfeits.
Defending champion and fourteen-time tournament winner Rafael Nadal could announce the official forfeit from the Paris tournament by these hour. There is no official statement but by now it seems to be certain and in Spain they give, in spite of themselves, the done thing.
Rafael Nadal's team has announced that today afternoon the tennis player will release a special press conference where the tennis player will clarify whether or not he will participate in the tournament. These are hours of great anxiety and Rafael Nadal is about to reveal his future.
Also obviously in Paris they are waiting to understand whether or not they will be able to count on the reigning champion and in any case on the man who made the history of the tournament. Rafael Nadal has not recovered and will therefore not participate in the most awaited tournament, as reported by Marca, Mundo Deportivo and Relevo's colleagues, later confirmed by Sport.
Very bad news for tennis fans and the awareness that it could be the end of an era. The King of Clay risks never playing on the court that made him great and after Roger Federer we could therefore witness the official retirement of the second of the Big Three, with Novak Djokovic still on the court and battling with the younger players.
There is no official announcement but confirmations are pouring in and there is great fear among tennis fans. Rafa hasn't played since the second round of the 2023 Australian Open, the match he lost to American tennis player MacKenzie McDonald.
On that occasion, during the second set, Nadal suffered an injury to the psoas muscle, a break that was technically supposed to be for six weeks but which instead saw him out for months. Months have passed and, week after week, Rafa has announced various forfeits, the latest at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome. Some thought he might make a surprise hit in Paris, but at the moment that seems less and less likely.
