Nadal Listens To His Body

As if it were a bad dream, one of the greatest Spanish athletes of all time gets off the Spanish ship bound for Tokyo. Rafael Nadal's rope does not seem to give more of itself for the moment and the Balearic tennis player confirmed yesterday the suspicions he sowed after losing in the Roland Garros semifinals with Djokovic : he will not represent Spain in the next Olympic Games and he will not step on the All England grass either Club in search of its third Wimbledon (after those achieved in 2008 and 2010). The left-hander's decision is considered and he wanted to demonstrate it, inevitably putting his physique ahead of his aspirations. When there is no gasoline, there is none.

Read more: Wimbledon 2021

Individual gold in Beijing 2008 and in doubles with his inseparable Marc López in Rio 2016, Rafa Nadal seems to have put his signature with the earrings and prefers to take a little break in time. "After listening to my body and talking to my team, I understand that it is the right decision in order to extend my sports career and continue doing what makes me happy: compete at the highest level and continue fighting," he confirmed on his social networks. Even the apparent supermen like the Spanish must sometimes slow down their momentum and look with a cool head to the medium or long-term future. It will not be the only absence from Spanish Olympic tennis.

The national number two, Roberto Bautista , already announced it days ago, and yesterday Albert Ramos also joined, claiming similar problems: «I would have loved to participate in other Games under normal circumstances, but it is an atypical season due to the pandemic and traveling to Tokyo completely upsets the calendar because with the trip it is three weeks ».

Read also: Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

The happy ATP calendar is exhausting the Spanish and in the case of Nadal, age weighs: "It's not like when I was 25, now I'm 35 and the pace is unsustainable," he said. In this strange season, Rafa has taken to the track 27 times, with a positive balance of 24 wins and three losses. The last in the land of Paris seems to have been the last drop in a glass that is still very full.

NADAL REMAINS NADAL

The clay season has been very fruitful for him, playing five tournaments in the last two months and re-savoring victory in Rome and Barcelona. The stoppage after Roland Garros in his personal refuge in Manacor has allowed him, however, to realize that it is preferable not to force the machine at the moment and leave the Grand Slams count at 20 for Wimbledon , where they will continue with their fight personal Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, great favorites in the monopoly of three that they maintain after so many years.

Read more: Sports Event Affected By Corona

Until when will you be able to enjoy the manacorí running up and down the slopes? It is something really uncertain. What is indisputable is the concern that surrounds the Spanish Olympic delegation with the absence of those who were reliable medal options such as Rafa himself, Carolina Marín, Jesús Tortosa in taekwondo and others who do not reach the top of the stakes either.

With Nadal, Bautista and Ramos in the gutter, Pablo Carreño and Alejandro Davidovich are the only tennis players confirmed for Tokyo 2020 , especially looking at the Asturian, who currently occupies twelfth place in the world. Even with that position as a cover letter, Carreño is not having a remarkable season and has lost with all the Top-10 he has met along the way, such as Stefanos Tsitsipas or Rafa Nadal himself in Barcelona,   although he shone in that same complex imposing itself on Little Schwartzman .

Although with similar results, Davidovich is with his morale through the roof after having a very prominent role reaching the quarterfinals in the Musketeers Tournament and, at 22 years old, he will debut at the Olympic event with the illusion of a newcomer . The main problem you will encounter, apart from pressure, will be the hard surface of the facilities at Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo, which is not your favorite.

The Spaniard had put his involvement at both in doubt after being eliminated from Roland Garros, when he hinted that he was in need of rest and would have to take time to decide whether or not to compete at the two big events this summer.

I've decided not to participate at Wimbledon from June 28 to July 11, nor will I play at the Olympic Games from July 24 to 30

After listening to my body and talking to my team, I understand that it's the right decision in order to extend my career and continue doing what makes me happy: competing at the highest level

The fact that there are only two weeks between Roland Garros and Wimbledon hasn't helped after the demanding clay court season...

The Olympics have meant a lot to me in my career and have always been a priority. I was lucky enough to experience them on three occasions and to be the standard-bearer for my country

Away from London for a fourth time

This will be the fourth time that Nadal has missed Wimbledon, having done so in 2004, 2009 and 2016. The latter of those years, though, did see him take part at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

This will be just the second Olympic absence of his career after London 2012.

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