Daily Times

PARIS: Holder Rafa Nadal will miss the French Open after failing to regain full fitness from a hip injury suffered at the Australian Open in January, and the 14-times Roland Garros winner added he expects to retire following the 2024 season. Nadal, who has dominated the claycourt season for close to two decades, has competed at Roland Garros every year since claiming the first of his 22 majors in Paris in 2005. “I’ll look to be 100% ready for next year, which I believe will be the last year of my professional career,” Nadal told a news conference at his tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain. “The evolution of the injury I sustained in Australia has not gone as I would have liked. I have lost goals along the way, and Roland Garros becomes impossible.” Nadal said he needs to stop playing for the foreseeable future to make a full recovery and return for what he anticipates will be his farewell season. “I’ll not establish a date for my return. I’ll see how my body responds and take it from there,” said the 36-year-old.