While most players who finished Roland Garros have started getting ready for the grass-court season, Rafael Nadal is still working on clay.
It was a historic loss for Nadal at the French Open in 2024. In the opening round, he fell to Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, in straight sets. The Spaniard had never before lost the first game of a clay-court Grand Slam in his career.
Despite having doubts about his form and level of fitness prior to the tournament, the 22-time major champion was so thrilled with his performance that he turned down the tournament organizers’ goodbye ceremony.
This is due to the fact that Nadal was inspired by his performance in the match against Zverev, even serving to win the second set by a tie-break. He did not disclose if this was, in fact, his final season on the ATP Tour or his final appearance at the competition.
He is still expecting to get some life out of his 38-year-old knees and is still among the tennis world’s most resilient players, having overcome two potentially career-ending hip injuries in the previous 15 months.
However, Nadal is still playing on clay courts while the tennis professionals move from them to grass courts in anticipation of Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the season.
That’s for a very excellent reason. The Olympic Games of this year will take place at Stade Roland Garros on July 27, which is around seven weeks following the conclusion of the French Open.
After winning a gold medal in the singles tournament at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rafael Nadal has stated that he wants to return to Paris to fight for a second gold medal.
He is shown getting ready for the Olympic Games at the end of July, when he will play under a protected ranking, in a recent video that was posted to social media and shows him working out on clay at the Rafa Nadal Academy.
Rafa is practicing on… clay. (damlatuzun IG) pic.twitter.com/SzMELbLX0J
— Del🇪🇺 (@Stroppa_Del) June 6, 2024