Rafael Nadal withdraws from French Open due to lack of fitness, says 2024 is likely to be his last year on tour

Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the French Open due to a lack of fitness. The 22-time Grand Slam champion has not played since losing in the second round of the Australian Open in January. He called a press conference on Thursday afternoon where he has confirmed he would not be competing.

Ad Nadal told reporters that he will rest for an unspecified period of time before returning next year, which he believes will be his last year on the tour. Roland-GarrosThe near-two decade Nadal-Djokovic Rome monopoly is over — what now?19 HOURS AGO «I was working as much as possible every single day for the last four months,» began Nadal. «It has been very difficult months because we were not able to find the solution to the problem that I had in Australia.

»Today I'm still in a position that I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards that I need to be [at] to play a Roland Garros. I am not the guy that is going to be at Roland Garros and just try to be there and put myself in a position that I don't like to be [in]. «My ambition is to try to enjoy next year, which will probably be my last year in professional competition.

My motivation is to try to say goodbye to all the important tournaments. »2024 will probably be my last year. I'm not going to set a return date before that.

It could be reaching the Davis Cup at the end of 2023." Nadal had been seen practising on clay in a bid to be fit to defend his title, where he is a 14-time champion. However, he has not been able to overcome his injury issues that he has had since withdrawing from the Wimbledon semi-finals last year. After last year's US Open, he only returned at the end of the season to play at the Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals.