Spain's Rafael Nadal reacts after losing a point during his match against Belgium's Zizou Bergs at the Italian Open tennis tournament, in Rome, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
PARIS (AP) – This might not turn out to be Rafael Nadal’s last French Open, after all. The 14-time champion at Roland Garros said Saturday that he is not 100% sure he won’t play again at the Grand Slam tournament.
Nadal has missed much of the last two seasons because of hip and abdominal muscle issues, and he is just 7-4 in 2024. There had been some doubt after a lopsided loss at the Italian Open two weeks ago whether he would even enter the clay-court event in Paris at all.
But he did show up, and has been practicing this week. Nadal, who turns 38 on June 3, was drawn to face No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev in a showdown that will be everyone’s focus on Monday, Day 2 of the tournament.
Asked Saturday whether he had decided if this will be his final French Open, given that everyone is assuming it will be, Nadal smiled and replied: “Don’t assume that.”
“It’s a big, big chance that it’s going to be my last Roland Garros,” he said. “But if I have to tell you it’s 100% my last Roland Garros, sorry, but I will not. Because I cannot predict what’s going on.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
