Tennis: Rafael Nadal gives up the Tokyo Olympics and Wimbledon

Published on : 06/17/2021 – 14:50

It was on social networks that Rafael Nadal made it known that he was giving up participating in the next Wimbledon tournament (June 28 – July 11) as well as the Tokyo Olympics (July 23 – August 8) in order to “let his body recover “.

“The goal is to extend my career and to continue doing what makes me happy, which is to play at the highest level,” writes the 35-year-old, Olympic champion in singles in 2008 and in doubles. in 2016, winner of 20 Grand Slam titles, and who lost last Friday in the semi-final of Roland-Garros against the future winner Novak Djokovic.

In his communication, the Spaniard does not specify whether he suffers from an injury. On the other hand, he mentions the close calendars between Roland Garros and Wimbledon to justify his absence from the London grass tournament which he won twice (2008 and 2010).

“It has just passed two months of great effort and the decision I take is medium and long term. Preventing any form 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 “.

The champion has suffered in recent seasons from knee injuries which have sometimes kept him away from the courts for a long time. Nadal was forced to forfeit the London Games in 2012 for this reason. He was the flag bearer of the Spanish delegation during the last Rio Olympics in 2016.

In his message broadcast Thursday, Nadal greeted his fans in England and Japan and recalled that the Games “have always been a priority for (him) as an athlete, finding there a state of mind that every athlete in the world hopes to live” .

With AFP