Daniil Medvedev hopes Rafael Nadal returns to action soon after withdrawing from the French Open to rest his body

Daniil Medvedev has said he hopes that Rafael Nadal is back on court very soon. The 14-time Roland Garros winner announced on Thursday that he would not play the French Open this year, and that next year would likely be his last on the tour.

Ad Nadal failed to commit to how long he would be out of action but said he needs to take some time off for his body, as well as for his happiness — indicating that he will be away for months rather than weeks. Roland-GarrosExclusive: Corretja 'feels empty' after Nadal withdraws from French Open14 MINUTES AGO Nadal’s struggled with multiple injuries in recent years and has not played since January’s Australian Open due to a hip complaint.

Speaking about his condition, Nadal said, «Today I'm still in a position where I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards I need to be to play Roland Garros. I am not the guy who will be at Roland Garros just to play.» As for Medvedev, he has found good form on clay ahead of the French Open and, talking after he made the Italian Open semi-final with a straight-sets victory over Yannick Hanfmann, admitted he would rather have the challenge of facing Nadal than the Spanish great not be playing.

“Hopefully he can come back as fast as possible because he’s an amazing player, amazing athlete, one of the best in the history”, Medvedev said. “We can argue about this but hopefully he can come back and play some more Slams as long as he can and we’ll see how it goes.” Swiatek to take 'a couple of days off' after injury retirement at Italian Open Nadal withdraws from French Open but how did he become the King of Clay? Kyrgios missing French Open due to injury linked to car theft incident — agent Despite his kind words, Medvedev also