French Open 2023: Rafael Nadal’s participation remains doubtful, having missed out on the whole clay-court season so far as he recovers from his leg injury. Meanwhile, Roger Federer remains hopeful and has given out a bold prediction.
Reigning French Open champion Rafael Nadal has not played his first competitive game since the Australian Open in January. After the early exit from the latter due to a leg injury, he has since undergone surgery and is on a long road to recovery, while he has missed out on every clay-court competition this season.
Last week, he also pulled out of the soon-to-start Rome Masters, the final major clay-court event before Roland Garros later this month. Consequently, there have been doubts regarding his participation in Paris, where he has been scheduled to defend his crown and vie for his record-extending 14th French Open title and record 23rd Grand Slam.
In the meantime, legendary former 20-time Slam winner Roger Federer has backed Nadal to make it to RG, besides giving a bold prediction. “It will be brutal, yes. It’ll be tough for tennis if Rafa is not there. I still hope so [that he makes it]. He pulled out of Rome, so I wish him the best. Also, Novak [Djokovic] hasn’t played that much, so I hope he will be strong. There are all the young guys coming through as well. I’ll be watching,” he told Sky Sports.
In the meantime, Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya updated the French publication L’Equipe about his recovery process: “Currently, we work more or less an hour and a half a day and continue to improve day by day. It is not even a matter of whether you are an optimist or a pessimist, just that you observe the progress daily.”
“We are sad that he hasn’t played on clay yet. He is not the worst, but we try to encourage him and are always optimistic. I think it’s an urban legend that Nadal needs a lot of matches to be ready. When he returned from injury, he always achieved good results,” concluded Moya.
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