When Rafael Nadal first hinted at 2024 being his farewell season from skilled tennis, he highlighted the Paris Olympics as “a significant event I hope to participate in.”
Should this really mark his ultimate chapter, and if he qualifies put up his latest restoration from hip surgical procedure – circumstances removed from assured – it might be poignant for his farewell to coincide with the venue of the French Open.
No occasion, no less than on this sport, defines an athlete’s legacy the way in which the clay-court Grand Slam match does for Nadal. The reverse is true as properly, which is why there’s a statue of the 38-year-old Spaniard at Roland Garros, the positioning of a file 14 of his 22 main trophies and the place the Olympic tennis matches start on July 27.
Nadal skipped Wimbledon to keep away from transitioning from clay to grass and again to clay on the Paris Games, the place he plans to staff in doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, the 21-year-old coming off back-to-back main titles at Roland Garros and the All England Club.
Even although the concept Nadal may add to his gold medals – in singles at Beijing in 2008 and in doubles with Marc López at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 – appears far-fetched, simply seeing him again in Paris will imply lots to him and his followers.
“My body has been a jungle for two years. You don’t know what to expect,” stated Nadal, who has performed solely 16 matches for the reason that begin of final 12 months, going 8-8, together with a first-round loss on the French Open this May. “I wake up one day and feel like I had a snake biting me. Another day, a tiger.”
Another in style and profitable determine in males’s tennis, Andy Murray of Britain, says this Olympics will mark his adieu.
The 37-year-old Murray, a three-time Slam champion, is the one athlete with two singles golds within the sport – from London in 2012 and Rio 4 years later. After having hip substitute surgical procedure in 2019 and present process numerous different latest accidents, he withdrew from singles at Wimbledon final month to take away a cyst from his backbone.
“It’s great that they’ll be at the Olympics one last time. Any chance to see those guys on a court again should be celebrated,” U.S. coach Bob Bryan stated. “They’re both working through tough times with injuries, but they’re showing resilience and the will to fight and be on the court.”
While Murray and Nadal each personal golds, the most effective in tennis don’t all the time depart an Olympics with the highest prizes.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia, for instance, will likely be making an attempt to fill that one hole on his in any other case impeccable resume, which incorporates 24 Grand Slam trophies and extra weeks at No. 1 within the rankings than anybody.
Also eyeing a primary gold will likely be stars of the game corresponding to Iga Swiatek of Poland, who has received the French Open 4 of the previous 5 years, and Coco Gauff of the United States, the reigning U.S. Open champion and runner-up to Swiatek at Roland Garros in 2022.
She missed out on the Tokyo Olympics three years in the past after testing constructive for COVID-19 proper earlier than she was to journey to Japan.
“I’ve been trying to put myself in the mindset of just enjoying the experiences,” Gauff stated, “because you only have your first Olympics once.”
As a sport with quite a few prizes on supply almost each week and 4 Grand Slam occasions per 12 months, tennis doesn’t place the identical emphasis on the Olympics as sports activities corresponding to athletics, gymnastics, and swimming do. Thus, among the most achieved and high-ranked athletes will likely be skipping Paris.
That consists of Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, a two-time Australian Open champion who’s No. 3 on the earth; two-time Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur of Tunisia; and Americans corresponding to Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, who have been U.S. Open semifinalists lately. The 12 months’s final Slam begins lower than a month after the Olympics finish.
“You’ve got to look big picture. The U.S. Open is right there. It’s going to be super hot this summer. I just kind of want to be there, practicing in that. And I care way more about the Open and being as prepared for the Open as possible,” Tiafoe stated. “That was kind of it.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com