Nadal Returns To Roland Garros To Practice Amid Doubts Over Fitness And Form – News18

PARIS: Rafael Nadal returned to Roland Garros on Monday to practice and try and figure out whether to compete at the French Open he has won 14 times.

The 37-year-old Spaniard showed up with his coach Carlos Moya. A video on the Open’s official social media showed Nadal arriving by car.

The training was set for 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT). It would give him a chance to reacquaint himself with Court Philippe Chatrier’s red clay — he hasn’t played a match there in two years — and test his fitness.

The tournament begins on Sunday and it remains uncertain if Nadal will enter.

He is still regaining his match readiness after missing nearly all of 2023 with a hip injury that required surgery, and much of this season because of problems with a hip muscle and an abdominal muscle.

His recent loss in the Italian Open second round ( to Hubert Hurkacz 6-1, 6-3) left Nadal unsure about whether he would consider himself ready for the French Open.

“Let’s see what’s going on, how I feel myself mentally tomorrow, after tomorrow, and in one week,” Nadal said last week at the Italian Open. “If I feel ready, I (am) going to try to be there and fight for the things that I have been fighting (for for) the last 15 years, (even) if now (that) seems impossible.”

As of Monday, Nadal still had not announced whether or not he would play in Paris. This is expected to be his final season on tour — and so this would be his final appearance at a tournament he has won more times than any other tennis player has won any Grand Slam title.

He won the French Open in 2022 for his 22nd major championship, which ranks second among men to Novak Djokovic’s 24.

Nadal missed the French Open last year because of the hip.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis