Rafael Nadal may miss the French Open

Hopes of Rafael Nadal competing for a 15th French Open singles title this spring took a big hit on Thursday.

Nadal, 36, from Spain, announced that the injury to the psoas muscle in his lower abdomen and upper right thigh sustained at the Australian Open in January had not healed as he and his doctors and trainers had expected. In his statement that he would miss his third clay-court tournament – the Madrid Open, which starts next week – Nadal said he had no timetable for when he could play competitive tennis again.

“The injury is still not healed and I don’t know what to do to compete,” Nadal said in a video released on social media on Thursday. “I was training, but now, a few days ago, we decided to switch things up a bit, do another treatment and see if things improve to try and get to what comes next.”

Losing Nadal to the French Open would be a major blow to the sport and the tournament, where he has long been a star attraction. There is a statue of him outside the main stadium.

It would give Novak Djokovic a great chance to stay ahead of Nadal in the race to win the most Grand Slam titles. Both players have won 22, with Djokovic winning Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open in January. Djokovic is the last player to beat Nadal in Paris, which is one of the rarest feats in tennis. He defeated him in 2021 in the semifinals. Nadal’s record at Roland Garros is 112-3.

Nadal’s injury occurred during his Australian Open second-round loss to Mackenzie McDonald. Nadal stopped lamely as he chased a shot deep into the corner of the court. He immediately turned to his coaches sitting on the right side of the Rod Laver Arena, then crouched in the corner to catch his breath. He completed the game but struggled with his movement for the rest of the afternoon and later said his disappointment was indescribable.

“I can’t say I’m not broken mentally this time because then I’d be lying,” he said at the time.

But within days, Nadal’s team said he would be able to compete in six to eight weeks, a time frame that suggested he would most likely miss the hard court swing in the United States in March and early April, but would be ready to play when the tour began its clay-court segment in Europe in the spring.

But when those tournaments began, Nadal’s name was missing from the draw, despite images he posted on social media of his practice sessions. He pulled out of tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and announced on Thursday that he would not be able to play in Madrid next week. That leaves the Italian Open in Rome, which begins May 8, as the only major tune-up available ahead of the French Open. But that tournament now also seems doubtful.

“The reality is that the situation is not what we expected,” Nadal said. “All medical indications have been followed, but somehow the evolution is not what they initially told us and we are in a difficult situation.”

Nadal’s current struggles are the latest in an 18-month battle with injuries that have plagued the twilight of his career. Initially, he was able to overcome them and play some of his most surprising tennis.

He bounced back from a flare-up of his chronic foot injury in late 2021 to win the Australian Open last year, then recovered from a broken rib in time to win his 14th French Open.

At Wimbledon, however, a tear in the abdominal muscle forced him to miss his semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios and miss much of the summer. He returned for the US Open but was far from 100 percent, losing to Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round. Then came the psoas muscle tear in Australia.

Injuries to the psoas, even mild strains and minor tears of the muscle fibers, can send pain up the buttocks or shoot down the leg and groin, or even make it difficult to transition from sitting to standing. Playing tennis at the highest level is something completely different.

Even if Nadal misses the French Open, Djokovic’s quest for his third singles championship there will be very difficult. To win, you’ll probably have to get past Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spanish sensation who won the US Open last year to become the youngest man to reach the No. 1 ranking in the sport. Like Nadal, Alcaraz grew up playing on red clay in Spain.