Nadal does not reach Monte Carlo: “My body simply won't let me”

The clay court is coming, but, for now, Rafael Nadal will not be there. The 37-year-old Spanish tennis player announced this Thursday that he will not compete in the tour's first tournament on clay, the Monte Carlo Masters 1000, because he is still not at an optimal level to take to the court. This is the fourth event he has given up this season, after not having been able to attend the Australian Open, Doha or Indian Wells (California). Until now, the Mallorcan has only been able to play three official matches, which he played at the beginning of the year in Brisbane; He then suffered from the physical problems that he has had since he was injured in January 2023 and, from there, he has opted for caution. The fears, logically, are still present. In this way, he will not be in the Principality either – from the 7th to the 14th of this month – where he has been crowned eleven times. Yes, figures like Novak Djokovic and the young Carlos Alcaraz will parade.

“These are difficult times for me sportingly speaking. Unfortunately I inform you that I am not going to play in Monte Carlo. My body simply won't let me. And although I continue working and trying my best every day with the hope of being able to compete in tournaments that have been very important to me, the reality is that today I cannot,” he transmitted in a brief statement, accompanied by a video in the that he can be seen rallying in the facilities of his academy in Manacor; “I have no choice but to accept the situation and try to look towards the immediate future while maintaining hope and desire to give myself the opportunity for things to improve.”

Nadal, who will turn 38 on June 3, still does not find sufficient guarantees to return; not at least at the level he wants. Lately he has been exercising on sand, but the sensations have not been entirely satisfactory and his return will be delayed. The body, he insists, still does not fully respond. Initially, his name appears on the registration list for the Barcelona (April 15 to 21) and Madrid (May 24 to 5) tournaments, but his presence is unknown. Everything is still up in the air. And Roland Garros is the priority. The Spanish tennis player wanted to participate in Monte Carlo, where he triumphed between 2005 and 2012, and also between 2016 and 2018; However, his current reality prevents him from once again competing, while the schedule he had in mind continues to dwindle. Nadal wants it, but to date, his physique doesn't allow it.

His last public appearance took place on March 20, within the framework of his foundation's awards ceremony that took place at the Es Baluard Museum in Palma de Mallorca. The 22-time major champion attended the event surrounded by his family and stressed the message of caution that he has been transmitting since his recovery began. “The first objective is to try to compete. I go day by day. Unfortunately, lately I find it difficult to predict what will happen. I am working to try to start the clay court tour, that is my great goal and for which I am working hard, but I cannot guarantee anything,” he stated; “At no time have I stopped training, I am trying at all times. I feel fine, but so far I haven't been able to follow the schedule I would have liked. I hope the situation can change, but I don't know. “I can't confirm anything.”

Aside from this appearance, the 22-time major champion was seen in a video published a day earlier through his social networks, in which he was seen playing at an intermediate pace on clay. And at the beginning of that month he went to Las Vegas to participate in an exhibition organized by Netflix, in which he faced Carlos Alcaraz, 20 years old. The defeat against the Murcian was anecdotal, but there it was clear that he was still very short of filming and that the questions continued to flutter around him. “For me the priority is to play Indian Wells and try to get out of there unscathed,” he commented then. “I don't want to say it yet. [su posible retirada] because I am not one hundred percent clear, but it is true that reality is what it is, and it says that in the last two years I have been able to play very little,” he added.

Specifically, Nadal has played five matches in the last two years: the two he played in Melbourne in 2022, and the three this season in Brisbane. In between, the Spaniard suffered an injury to his iliac psoas – grade 2, “six to eight weeks” of absence predicted by his personal doctor, Ángel Ruiz Cotorro – and then underwent surgery in which, in addition to repair damaged muscle [rotura del tendón] corrected an old hip problem. In October he returned to training and after the good results left behind during his time in Brisbane, where he won two victories before suffering during the duel with Jordan Thompson on January 5, the resignations have been happening: neither Australia, nor Doha, nor Indian Wells or Monte Carlo. The good news is still not coming; In any case, his primary objective was and is to arrive on time for Roland Garros, which will begin on May 26.

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