Rafael Nadal to retire after 2024, will be on farewell tour next season

Rafael Nadal sends shockwaves as withdraws from Roland Garros 2023

Rafael Nadal to retire after 2024, will be on farewell tour next season

Credit: India TV

Rafael Nadal announced that he would finally be retiring from tennis after 2024. And he will not be playing any tournaments in 2023, not even Roland Garros. Nadal held a press conference on 18th May at Rafa Nadal Academy. At the conference, he spoke in detail about how his hip injury which he has been suffering from since late 2022 has not healed. This leaves him unfit for the remaining of 2023 too. This is the first time the city of Paris won’t see their favorite player on the red courts competing for his favorite trophy.

Nadal has not competed professionally since Australian Open 2023, after his hip injury in flared up again in January. The ‘King of Clay‘ as he is so dearly called, withdrew from each one of the clay tournaments this year one by one in the hope of recovering for the next tournament.

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The final blow came today when he announced he won’t play at the French Open 2023. His fans and even rivals were all waiting in anticipation for this news. And many are completely heartbroken by this.

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Nadal is one of the most loved tennis players of the 2000s era. He has won a total of 22 Grand Slam titles, a record tied by only Novak Djokovic in the Open Era. 14 of which are Roland Garros titles. He has also won 2 gold Olympics medals, one singles in 2008 and one doubles in 2016. He has won 103 ATP titles.

Though currently he is out of the 2023 running he still wants to come back in 2023, if things look better for him. But the brighter side to this conference was that he will be back for the 2024 season as of now. This is only the 13th time that the player has withdrawn from a Major tournament.

Keep Exploring: BREAKING: Rafael Nadal is out of the 2023 French Open

A Roller-coaster of emotions by Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal
Image Credit: SkySports

2023 has been a very challenging year for Rafael Nadal, not just physically but emotionally too. He faced an early second-round exit in the Australian. During the match, when he was taking a medical timeout and looked in a great deal of pain, even his wife, Maria Francisca Perello, could not hold back her tears. The pain from Nadal’s injury transcended to the spectators on the court and even spectators watching at home, while he suffered on the sidelines of the court. The couple welcomed their first child in November 2022. 

After the Australian Open, the Spaniard retired from all Masters tournaments. He did so in a gradual fashion, perhaps so as not to distress his fans. His fans were hoping he could be fit enough to play at Roland Garros, but that was not meant to be. With his withdrawal from Roland Garros and the rest of the 2023 season, there is now at least some clarity on Rafael Nadal’s future for some time.

Many tennis experts believe that things would not have been this bad for the Spaniard if he hadn’t played the exhibition matches with Casper Ruud at the end of 2022 in South America. 

An emotional Rafael Nada has finally made his future plans loud and clear. His fans will still wait for him with bated breath and hopeful hearts to watch their favorite on the court in 2024. Best wishes for rest and a good recovery to Rafael Nadal.

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