Rafael Nadal says he is staring at the end of his tennis career after announcing he will miss the French Open and most of the season before a farewell tour.
The 22-time grand-slam champion has been struggling with a hip injury since the Australian Open in January.
Nadal told media he was taking time off in coming months for his body to heal and he would return in 2024 – but he expected that would be his final year on the ATP Tour.
Nadal said he wanted to be able to say a proper “goodbye” to all his favourite tournaments.
“My goal and my ambition is to try and stop and give myself an opportunity to enjoy the next year that will probably be my last year in the professional tour,” Nadal said.
“That is my idea but I can’t say 100 per cent it will be like this, but my idea and my motivation is to try to enjoy and say goodbye to all the tournaments that have been important for me.
“To enjoy being competitive and something that today is not possible. I believe, if I keep going now, I will not be able to make it happen.”
Nadal struggled with a hip injury during his straight-sets defeat to Mackenzie McDonald in Melbourne earlier this year.
The ongoing issue has failed to recover sufficiently to allow the 36-year-old to chase a 15th title at Roland Garros.
It means the Spaniard, who has only lost three matches on the Parisian clay, will miss the tournament for the first time since 2004. But he admitted during a press conference at his academy in Manacor on Thursday (local time) that it felt the only option.
“First thing, I’m not going to be able to play in Roland Garros,” he said, of next week’s French Open.
“I was even working as much as possible every single day for the last four months, they have been very difficult months because we were not able to find a solution to the problems I had in Australia.
“Today I’m still in a position where I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards I need to be to play Roland Garros.
“I am not the guy who will be at Roland Garros just to play.”
Nadal claimed brilliant victories at the Australian Open and French Open last year but was fighting his body, with a chronic foot problem, fractured rib and an abdominal strain that forced him out of Wimbledon, keeping him off the court for spells prior to this latest injury.
His withdrawal from the French Open had appeared increasingly inevitable. The news he will also sit out Wimbledon, and almost certainly the US Open too, is a major blow to the sport, which must prepare to say goodbye to the Spaniard having seen his great rival Roger Federer bow out last autumn.
“I will stop for a while, maybe one month, maybe two months, maybe three months. I am a guy who doesn’t like to predict too much the future.
“I am following what I believe is the right thing to do for my body and my personal happiness,” he said.
“I don’t want to say one thing and do the other. It is better to hold the options open and see what is the best calendar possible.
“I would like to play the things that are important for me and of course the Olympic Games is an important competition and one I hope to play. Will it be my last or not? I cannot say.”
