Rafael Nadal will travel to Paris in hopes of playing at the 2024 Roland Garros, but that doesn't mean he'll truly play at the event.
Nothing is certain about Nadal's participation in the French Open this year. The only real confirmation would be if he explicitly says he's going to play or the moment he steps onto the courts at Roland Garros.
Until then, everything remains a possibility, even him pulling out of the event. Quite a few voices expressed their belief that Nadal wouldn't be playing in Paris after seeing how he lost to Hubert Hurkacz in Rome a few days ago.
The latest reports come from Spanish outlet AS, which reports that Nadal returned home on Sunday and has already been working at his Academy. According to the publication, the plan is to train in Mallorca this week and then go to Paris at the beginning of next week.
Then, he'll have a full week before the event officially kicks off on May 26th to get ready, and it's that week that we'll probably know for sure whether he's going to play or not.
The intention as of now is that he will play, but obviously, a week of practice in Paris will give him a better idea of where he might stand. The Madrid Open campaign was very encouraging because he was able to win a couple of matches before losing.
On the other hand, the week in Rome wasn't very good, especially the match against Hurkacz, during which Nadal was clearly frustrated with his performance on the court.
The Spaniard is now trying everything possible to arrive in Paris in good shape. However, given the recent trends, it's difficult to see him among the favorites, even with his historical record at the only clay-court Grand Slam of the season.