Former Australian tennis player Todd Woodbridge believes that Rafael Nadal will very likely be absent from this year's Roland Garros.
The Spaniard hasn't played since suffering a hip injury in his second-round loss to Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in January, and last week pulled out of the Madrid Open taking place over the next fortnight.
Speaking to the Australian press, Woodbridge voiced his concern at the 22-time Grand Slam champion's lengthy lay-off, going on to explain why he believes there is a good chance Nadal will not compete in Paris this year.
The Aussie doesn't think that Rafa will want to compete at Roland Garros without any matches under belt, as his extraordinary record at the event will be under real threat.
I am starting to feel we're not going to see him at Roland-Garros, not going to defend his title which would be enormous if that happened. There is one tournament left for him to play, that is Rome, to get some matches. If he doesn't get to Rome and get tennis under his belt, I cannot imagine that he would put that record on the line of how fantastic he's been at winning Roland-Garros by going there and losing early.
Essentially, Woodbridge believes that the 14-time French Open champion is running out of time to get form and match fitness in time for Roland Garros - even if he recovers from his injury in time.
With Madrid now out of the question, the only tournament left to get some matches before the start of the French is in Rome. Should Rafa miss Rome, then Woodbridge thinks that would be the end of Nadal's clay-court hopes this year.
However, Woodbridge did also go on to stress that coming back after lengthy injury lay-offs worked well for Nadal last year, but acknowledges that the injury this January may have been one too far for Rafa.
What's happened over the last couple of years now, is that he's come back from injury and done well. At the Australian Open he was coming back from injury again and he got something completely new.
There has been intense speculation about Nadal's physical condition since the turn of the clay-court season. As each week passes with no positive news, it appears ever more likely that the King of Clay may not feature of his hallowed turf at this season.
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