In transition from the red clay of Roland Garros to the green grass of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club comes a heart-break of tennis and Rafael Nadal fans. The French Open 2021 semi-finalists surprised – rather shocked – all by a tweet on Thursday afternoon.
Nadal has opted out of the Wimbledon Championships and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics “after listening to his body”. The world No. 3 Spaniard needs time to recover after clay-court season.
“Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision,” Nadal stated in the first of a thread of tweets.
The decision to skip the events where he has been a champion twice was never easy. He had won the Wimbledon crown in 2008 and 2010 and 2008 Beijing and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics gold. But he justified his decision to not defend the Olympic title.
“It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision,” Nadal posted.
Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 17, 2021
“The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at the maximum level of competition,” read the second Tweet.
The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at he maximum level of competition.
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 17, 2021
The fact that there has only been 2 weeks between RG and Wimbledon, didn’t make it easier on my body to recuperate after the always demanding clay court season. They have been two months of great effort and the decision I take is focused looking at the mid and long term.
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 17, 2021
“I want to send a special message to my fans around the world, to those in the United Kingdom and Japan in particular,” Nadal also said. “The Olympic Games always meant a lot and they were always a priority as a Sportsperson, I found the spirit that every sports person in the world wants to live. I personally had the chance to live three of them and had the honor to be the flag bearer for my country,” he added further.
Sport prevention of any kind of excess in my body is a very important factor at this stage of my career in order to try to keep fighting for the highest level of competition and titles.
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 17, 2021
Nadal, before reaching the Roland Garros semi-finals had won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell titles in what he would now consider as a tiring season.
