Rafael Nadal withdrew from this year's Indian Wells Masters just a day before he was set to take to the court for his first match, and Andy Roddick predicted his decision.
Nadal rejoined the tennis tour in January 2024 after an 11-month hiatus due to a hip injury. He played at the Brisbane International in Australia, where he picked up a couple of confidence-boosting wins on his comeback but lost in the quarterfinal to Jordan Thompon.
During that match, Nadal succumbed to another hip injury, which was not as damaging as his initial tear 12 months ago but still painful enough to force his withdrawal from the Australian Open. As such, he was sidelined for a few weeks and was projected to return at the Qatar Open in February.
But despite working around the clock, Nadal did not convince himself that he was ready to play in Doha. Instead, he used his time to play golf in Spain to build his finances. He won a mid-amateur golf tournament contested by over 70 players.
He signed up to play in Indian Wells, but before then, he honored the deal to appear at the Netflix Slam in a one-off match against compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.
Nadal played quite well, but his movement was clearly not as effective as during his peak years, which was noticeable. The 37-year-old master lost to his apprentice in a third-set super tie-break and, just days later, announced his surprise withdrawal from Indian Wells.
However, former World No. 1 Andy Roddick, who commentated on the Netflix Slam match, predicted that would be the case in an episode of Served with Andy Roddick podcast, saying, "All signs point to Roland Garros."
In the same episode, the American also commented on the likelihood that the Netflix Slam match might be Nadal's last-ever indoor hard-court match of his career, especially with his retirement looking like it could happen before the end of the season.
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