Today at his eponymous academy on the Spanish island of Mallorca, Rafael Nadal made official what the tennis world has suspected for weeks. He will not be playing in the French Open, the major he has won 14 times, the site of his personal clay canvas where he compiled a risible record of 112–3.
At January’s Australian Open, he suffered an injury to his upper hip. He has not played since, missing the entire clay court lead-up for the first time in his career. There was wishful thinking that he was rationing his energy for one final give-it-everything-I-got hurrah starting next week in Paris. But today’s announcement dispelled that. Injuries have been as much a part of his career as clay court excellence. (Even as a teenager, a foot injury prevented him from playing the French Open in 2004.) And he has been as adept at managing his bodily crises as he has been at slinging his lefthanded, spin-drizzled strokes. That this injury prevents him from entering his personal clay playground—the place where his statue already adorns the grounds, as if peeled off Mount Rushmore—says plenty about the severity.
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated
