Rafael Nadal has announced that he will skip Wimbledon next month and plans to focus on preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Summer Games will be played at Roland Garros, which is the site of the French Open each year. Nadal competed in the 2024 French Open earlier this month but was eliminated in straight sets in the first round by eventually runner-up Alexander Zverev.
“During my post match press conference at Roland Garros I was asked about my summer calendar and since then I have been practicing on clay. It was announced yesterday that I will play at the summer Olympics in Paris, my last Olympics,” Nadal posted on X on Thursday.
“With this goal, we believe that the best for my body is not to change surface and keep playing on clay until then. It’s for this reason that I will miss playing at the championships this year at Wimbledon,” Nadal wrote. “I am saddened not to be able to live this year the great atmosphere of that amazing event that will always be in my heart, and be with all the British fans that always gave me great support. I will miss you all.”
Nadal, 38, has dealt with significant injuries in recent years as he missed nearly all of the 2023 tennis calendar due to a hip injury. He suffered another setback at the start of the year with a small muscle tear in his hip, though not in the same spot where he underwent surgery.
The Spanish star has two Wimbledon titles to his name over the years with the most recent win coming in 2010. He has also won a pair of Olympic gold medals during his professional career, taking home an Olympic singles gold medal in 2008 and an Olympic doubles gold medal in 2016. This time around, Nadal plans to compete in doubles with 2024 French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Nadal stated that he’ll train for the Summer Olympics at the ATP 250 clay-court tournament in Bastad, Sweden, which will begin on July 15. This will mark the first time that Nadal will play at the event in 19 years.
The Paris Olympics get underway on July 26 and run through Aug. 11.
