Rafael Nadal hinted that he may potentially skip Wimbledon this year in order to better prepare for the Olympic Games.
Nadal returned to the famed Court Philippe-Chartier court in Paris on Monday to face Alexander Zverev in a blockbuster round-one match. The Spaniard was a heavy underdog in that match and ultimately failed to win it.
The German was just too strong, even though the 14-time Roland Garros champion had plenty of chances to swing the match onto his side. After the match, he briefly addressed the crowd, but there wasn't some spectacular send-off per his own request.
He's hinted a few times now that this might not be his last time playing at the event, and it certainly isn't his last time on that court. Nadal will likely return later this summer during the Olympics played on these courts.
To better prepare for that, he may skip Wimbledon and the entire grass season, simply staying and preparing on clay.
"Looks difficult, honestly. For me now I can't confirm what's going on, but for me now looks difficult to make a transition to grass, having Olympics again on clay. So I cannot confirm anything. I need to talk with team. I need to analyze so many facts."
There is very little chance that he'll go to grass and then back to clay because it doesn't make much sense, given how much he struggled with injuries recently. Grass is also a surface where he's least likely to be dangerous at this point of his career, so as iconic as the venue and event are, it's not worth it.
"But I don't think it's going to be smart after all the things that happened to my body now make a big transition to a completely different surface and then come back immediately to clay, no?"
He's at that stage where every choice he makes is huge, so he can't afford to make the wrong one.
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