Rafael Nadal on Thursday withdrew from the French Open because his hip injury has not healed and said he expects 2024 to be his final year in professional tennis. "It's not a decision I'm taking, it's a decision my body is taking," said the 36-year-old Spanish superstar, who has played at the claycourt major every year since 2005 and won it 14 times.
Nadal said he was taking a few months off before starting to play again. "It's probably going to be my last year on the professional tour, I can't say this 100 percent because you never know what's going to happen," he told a news conference.
Since his swashbuckling title-winning debut in the French capital in 2005, he racked up 14 titles, winning 112 matches and losing just three.
Two of those came against Novak Djokovic -- in the last-eight in 2015 and semi-finals in 2021. Sweden's Robin Soderling had been the first to pierce the Nadal armour in 2009.