Rafa Nadal resignation: Roland Garros without king

first time eighteen seasonsIt has had to erase the ‘major’ Spanish tennis player, who has been playing on land since its release in 2005, from its banner. The three-metre steel statue next to the general entrance of the Musketeers Garden in Roland Garros, unveiled two years ago in honor of the Balearic athlete, will be the only painting of Rafael Nadal, which he announced this Thursday. not being able to go to Paris to defend his crown.

Rafael Nadal has made eighteen appearances in a row. france open From where he fell at the Australian Open in 2023 due to an injury he suffered to the iliac psoas of his left leg, which he has yet to overcome. Initially showing a steady improvement of six to eight weeks, the disease did not subside after four months.

Twenty-two Grand Slam winners would return to the courts for the clay-court campaign to begin. But nothing went as he planned, and he left every regular event on his calendar one after another. Monte Carlo, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Rome and now Paris.

The Spaniard, who played just four games in 2023, hasn’t played since falling against the American in the second round at the Australian Open. Mackenzie McDonald.

Thirty-six-year-old Nadal will not be part of the main draw of the tournament. For the first time in eighteen years. He won at fourteen. The Spanish player won 112 matches in Paris. And he lost only three of them: in 2009, in the round of 16 against Sweden Robin Soderling; and against Serbian Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of 2015 and the semi-finals of 2021.

In 2016, he could not win because he did not come to the planned confrontation with his compatriot. Marcel Granollers Due to a left wrist injury in the lap of 16.

Rafael Nadal’s paradise with Paris began in 2005. He came to Paris at the age of 18 and won the championship in the final against the Argentine. Marian Gate, with 19 and two days. Second tennis player in history to win Roland Garros for the first time after the Swedish tennis player Mats Wilanderadded this Grand Slam to trophies achieved weeks ago in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome.

The following three editions were also won. In total, he beat the Swiss Roger Federer with Roland Garros in the final. a cursed ‘big’ and the face-to-face duel with Nadal that seems like a classic.

After four successive successes in Paris came the first disappointment. One of Nadal’s few mishaps considering court Philippe Chatrie In the round of 16 with Swedish Robin Soderling. It was in 2009.

The Spaniard met this pressure with injuries. Despite this, time gave him the option of a rematch a year later. In the 2010 final against Scandinavia. The one who managed to be crowned in Paris for the fifth time and without giving up a single set.

He disappointed Federer once again in the 2011 final and Djokovic in the 2012 final, sealing his eighth crown against his compatriot in 2013. david ferrer, and 2014’s again against the Serbian player.

His second defeat at Roland Garros was when he had his worst moment and it was in 2015. two seasons, that and the next, without winning in Paris. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Djokovic and retired in 2016. He failed to make it to the third round.

A new series of four trophies in a row has once again made Rafael Nadal the best in history on dirt. beat Switzerland in 2017 Stanislas Wawrinkato Austria in 2018 and 2019 Dominik Thiem, settled in the elite and considered its heir. On the way he had abandoned the Argentines diego schwartzmanin quarters and juan martin del potro in the semi-finals and a year later, Roger Federer was one step into the final.

And in a pandemic in 2020, he defeated Novak Djokovic, who he lost together one season later, in the finals again in 2021. final defeat andin the semi-finals.

In 2022, Rafael Nadal regained his dominance. eliminated the Canadian Felix Auger – Aliassime in the round of 16, Djokovic in the quarterfinals and Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals. The German sprained his ankle and was forced to leave the match. The Spaniard then defeated the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final.

because this time psoas injury, He will not be able to defend his Balearic crown. Illness is keeping him from the fifteenth success in Paris and the possibility of increasing the list of grand prizes to twenty-three.