Nadal will do all he can to make it to Roland Garros: "Be at Roland Garros and do my best".

© AFP

Elio Valotto

le 11/05/2024 à 19h19

2 min to read

Barcelone Bergs De Minaur Hurkacz Lehecka Nadal Roland Garros Rome

Back in action for just over a month, the time has come for Rafael Nadal to take stock. With the French Open just two weeks away, the king of clay will soon have to make a very important decision: whether or not to play in Paris.

After a less than reassuring first tournament in Barcelona (beaten by De Minaur in the second round without shining), the Majorcan played at a much better level in Madrid. Taking his revenge on his Barcelona tormentor, he even managed to string together three consecutive wins before losing to Lehecka in the eighth round. Very reassuring, especially in comparison with what he had offered in Catalonia, the Majorcan arrived in Italy with a certain confidence. While many expected to see 'Rafa' step up a gear, he finally left the Eternal City after just two matches. In Italy, the results were far from glorious: a laborious first round win after almost three hours of play (4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Zizou Bergs) and, above all, a heavy second-round defeat by the world number 9 (6-1, 6-3).

As he confronted the wall that the world's top 10 can sometimes represent, the 14-time Roland Garros winner was asked about the chances, existing or otherwise, of seeing him play in Paris one last time. Although very disappointed, the Spaniard is not closing the door at all: "Now there are two possible ways forward: one would probably be to say: 'ok, I'm not ready, I'm not playing well enough', then it's time to make the decision not to play at Roland-Garros. Another is to accept how I am today and work in the right way to try to be better in two weeks' time. [...] The decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my mind today. But if I have to say what my feeling is, if my mind leans more one way than the other, I'd say: be at Roland-Garros and do my best. Physically, I've got a few worries, but probably not enough to say I won't be taking part in the most important event of my career. Let's see what happens, how I feel mentally tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and in a week's time. If I feel ready, I'll try to be there and fight for the things I've been fighting against for 15 years." (comments relayed by L'Equipe).