Nadal’s absence will surely hurt

NO matter how many times you repeat to yourself “Rafael Nadal is missing the French Open”, it still seems almost impossible.

The Spaniard, who is synonymous with Roland Garros, the red clay and the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy he has lifted a record 14 times, will not be there when this year’s edition starts on May 28, because he is not fit enough following a hip injury.

Even the fact it is a physical issue that is keeping him out is almost inconceivable when you consider he won the title last year with a completely numb left foot because of multiple pain-killing injections.

In announcing that he would be missing his favourite event for the first time in 19 years, he also signalled his intention to retire at the end of the 2024 season.

His plan to take some time out of the game now — he was not sure if it would be two months, four months, whatever — is aimed at ensuring he is in the best shape for a final year of “goodbyes” at the most important tournaments for him.

Top of that list will be the clay-court Grand Slam, which he — in contrast to many of his fans — described as “Roland Garros with or without me”.

“Players stay for a while and they leave, tournaments stay forever,” he told a news conference last week.

But when asked a few weeks ago what a French Open without Nadal would look like, tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said it would be “hard” to imagine.

“He is so much part of the history of the tournament for the last almost 20 years — it would be sad,” she said.

Never mind imagining it, we are now living it.

So, what does Nadal’s absence mean for the French Open and beyond?

A statue of Nadal was unveiled at Roland Garros in 2021 but organisers have since admitted that even that will not be enough of a tribute to the tournament’s greatest player when he eventually retires.

They will now have a year to plan his send-off, while Nadal himself would like nothing better to celebrate with a 15th title to bookend an extraordinary career.

He won the French Open title on his first appearance there in 2005, going on to triumph another 13 times in the following 17 years.

No player has won as many singles titles at one major tournament as the left-hander has at Roland Garros.

Known as the “King of Clay”, Nadal has won 112 of his 115 matches at the French Open.

Nadal’s first loss there was a shock fourth-round defeat by Sweden’s Robin Soderling in 2009, before quarter-final losses to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in 2015 and 2021.

Last year, two days after his 36th birthday, Nadal reclaimed the title by beating Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final to become the oldest French Open men’s singles champion.

While it would never have been wise to discount him on the Parisian clay, Nadal was not considered a red-hot favourite for the title this year after four months off the tour since January’s Australian Open.

But for anyone who has watched him fight through the pain on so many occasions — including memorably in a five-set win in last year’s Wimbledon quarter-finals with an abdominal issue that severely restricted his movement — there had still been hope until now. A 15th victory here would have given him a record 23rd men’s Grand Slam singles title, but, instead, Djokovic will get the chance to reach that mark.

However, Djokovic has been in patchy form on clay, with earlier-than-expected exits in Monte Carlo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and, most recently, in Rome on Wednesday, while he also missed the Madrid tournament through injury.

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz will take over from Djokovic as world number one tomorrow and back-to-back titles in Madrid and Barcelona underlined his French Open credentials.

However, his own preparations suffered a setback with a shock last-32 defeat by Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan at the Italian Open.

It leaves arguably the most open draw in the men’s singles at Roland Garros since the “King of Clay” began his reign.

Since Swiss great Roger Federer called time on his career last year, there have been the inevitable questions about when Nadal might follow his long-time rival into retirement.

The “big three” of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have dominated men’s tennis for nearly two decades, but slowly things have been changing.

There have been new men’s champions at Grand Slams in the past three years, although Nadal and Djokovic have still won 16 of the last 19 majors. — BBC