Rafael Nadal to skip Wimbledon to prepare for Paris Olympics

MADRID: Rafael Nadal will not take part in the Wimbledon 2024 Championships in order to prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympics starting in July, the Spaniard confirmed on Thursday.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the 38-year-old will pair up with French Open 2024 winner Carlos Alcaraz to play doubles together for Spain at the upcoming Paris Games.

“It was announced yesterday that I will play at the summer Olympics in Paris, my last Olympics,” Nadal said in a post.

“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. 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,” he added.

Along with his 22 grandslam titles, Nadal also has Olympic gold medals in singles (2008) and doubles (2016 with Marc López).

The 38-year-old missed almost all of 2023 with a hip problem and his comeback earlier this year was stalled by a muscle tear before small niggles affected his preparation for the French Open.  He exited the tournament in the first round this year, losing in straight sets to eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev.

A twice-champion at Wimbledon, Nadal said he would continue his preparations for the Olympics by playing in the ATP 250 claycourt event in Bastad, Sweden that will be played from July 15.

Wimbledon runs from July 1-14.

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