“It’s not going to be the same without him,” Alex Corretja left with shock and a sense of ’emptiness’ following Rafael Nadal’s massive withdrawal announcement from the French Open
Alex Corretja expressed his opinion regarding the shocking announcement of Rafael Nadal's withdrawal from the French Open.
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Rafael Nadal and Alex Corretja( Credits: Reuters and Industria del Tenis)
Alex Corretja, the former tennis player expressed his thoughts about his compatriot, Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from the Roland Garros. The ‘King of Clay’ stunned the tennis world after his decision to miss the French Open championship and hinted at his potential comeback in 2024.
On Thursday, Rafael Nadal broke the news of his withdrawal from the upcoming French Open at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar. The Spaniard who holds an impressive record of 14 Roland Garros titles, will be missing the tournament for the first time, since 2005. The 22 Grand Slams champion has not played a single match since his second-round exit at the Australian Open. With persisting problems since his iliopsoas injury, Nadal has halted all his activities for the year and indicated 2024 as ‘seemingly’ his last performance on the professional tour.
As the championship in Paris will be witnessing the absence of its favorite player, Alex Corretja weighed in his opinion during his conversation with Eurosport. He stated that the championship will not be the same without their ‘star player’.
“It’s very weird. It’s very unusual to go into Roland-Garros not having Rafa. It is going to be very strange without him”, he told to Eurosport.
“I thought that he was going to be able to win, even if he didn’t play too many tournaments before because he is Rafa – the greatest guy in history, for sure, on those courts”.
“I feel empty. It is not going to be the same without Rafa at Roland-Garros. What he has achieved at the tournament is impossible to repeat, in my opinion. I was hoping he could have a few warm-up tournaments, but given he has taken this decision, it means he was not ready for best-of-five-set matches”, Corretja said.
On the question of Nadal’s expected comeback in 2024, the former tennis player supported his fellow national’s decision and stated that he needs time to properly recover and recharge for the future.
“I totally understand the decision and I think it is very smart because he has been trying his best in order to be ready for the clay-court season. If he sees that he is not able to play at Roland-Garros, I think it is time to reset and refresh to give himself time to properly recover for the future”, Corretja continued.
“He is saying ‘Okay, if I am able to come back physically, mentally I will be ready, but that will be the end – that will be my last dance’. He is seeing that he is struggling physically with his body, so I really love that decision. He deserves the right to go to every tournament with everyone giving him the credit of what he has done for so many years. That would be awesome because 2024 would be a year we would all remember with Rafa finishing his career. So hopefully he will be healthy for that”, Corretja further added.
Nadal earlier withdrew from the ATP Tours of Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and the Italian Open.
Rafael Nadal’s shocking withdrawal from the Roland Garros
Rafael Nadal stunned the tennis world when he declared his absence from the upcoming French Open. The 36-year-old has been missing from the tennis court since his last appearance at the Australian Open. With back-to-back withdrawals from Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome, Nadal was gearing up to make his awaited comeback in Paris. However, the Spaniard’s recovery from the iliopsoas injury will take longer than expected.
“I was even working as much as possible every single day for the last four months. It has been very difficult months because we were not able to find the solution to the problem that I had in Australia. Today I’m still in a position that I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards that I need to be [at] to play a Roland Garros. I am not the guy that is going to be at Roland Garros and just try to be there and put myself in a position that I don’t like to be [in]”, Nadal said during his press conference at Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.
The 22 Grand Slams champion added that in spite of his absence, the tournament will still go on as the ‘best’ championship of the clay surface.
“Of course [in] the tournament [there are] going to be super interesting matches that I will be happy to follow and my speech [is not] going to change now [from] a couple of years ago when Novak didn’t play in Australia. Tournaments stay forever. Players play and leave, so Roland Garros will be always Roland Garros with or without me, without a doubt“, Nadal said.
“The tournament is going to keep being the best event in the world of clay and there is going to be one Roland Garros champion. It’s not going to be me, [there is] going to be another one and that’s life”, he further added.
In 2022, Nadal won his 14th Roland Garros title after defeating Casper Ruud in straight sets.
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Tanushree Verma
(52 Articles Published)