Spain's Rafael Nadal gestures after losing against Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka during the 2024 ATP Tour Madrid Open tournament round of 16 tennis match at Caja Magica in Madrid The great Spaniard Rafael Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, won his first title at Roland Garros as a teenager in 2005. A week on Monday, he will celebrate his 38th birthday. Picture: Thomas Coex/AFP
Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his 19-year French Open career with the likelihood of adding to his 14 titles greatly diminished before he leaves behind a record and reputation unlikely ever to be matched.
The great Spaniard, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, won his first title at Roland Garros as a teenager in 2005. A week on Monday, he will celebrate his 38th birthday.
A former world number one, who is now at 276 in the world, Nadal has only played 15 matches since January last year as a hip injury and then a muscle tear were added to a depressing history of physical ailments which have forced him to miss 12 Grand Slam tournaments in his career.
Whether or not the 2024 French Open becomes number 13 will soon become apparent as the draw for the event takes place on Thursday afternoon.
Welcome back, @RafaelNadal 👍![CDATA[]]>🇪![CDATA[]]>🇸#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/5FQMzRFy1F
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 20, 2024
"I'm going to play the tournament thinking that I can give my all, 100 percent," explained Nadal after a second round exit in Rome last week.
"And if 100 per cent is not enough to win a match, I'll accept that. But I don't want to step onto court knowing that I have no chance. If there's a 0.01% chance, I want to explore that and give it a go.”
As well as 14 titles in Paris, Nadal can boast a record of 112 wins and just three losses, two of which came against career-long rival Novak Djokovic.
He is also held in remarkably high esteem.
At his first training session on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros on Monday an estimated 6,000 people turned up to watch, many chanting his name.
"We have to enjoy the time he has left on court, evaluate it, and be aware that it's very unlikely that something like that will happen again," said coach Carlos Moya during the recent Madrid Open.
"Personally, I'm never on court when he enters or leaves, but I am this year because I like seeing the love he gets from the people when he steps on court.
"He's one of the great stars of this sport, he's about to retire, and it's really amazing to see that."
There is nothing on Earth like the clay of Roland-Garros.
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 22, 2024
Play now in @topspin2k 🧱 #TopSpin2K25 pic.twitter.com/v9RvAcaHRT
Nadal isn't the only A-list talent under a Paris cloud ahead of the tournament start on Sunday.
Defending champion and record 24-time Grand Slam title winner Djokovic, whose three titles in Paris put him alongside Gustavo Kuerten, Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, is enduring a title dry spell unseen since 2018.
Back then, he also reached May without a trophy before crashing to a shock last-16 defeat at the French Open to unheralded Marco Cecchinato of Italy.
This season, Djokovic has lost his Australian Open title and has yet to make a final on tour.
Adding injury to insult, he was hit on the head by a falling water bottle in Rome, a freak accident which he claimed caused nausea and dizziness.
In an attempt to gather a degree of clay-court confidence ahead of the French Open, Djokovic, who turns 37 on Wednesday, grabbed a late wild card in the ongoing Geneva tournament.
Between them, Nadal and Djokovic have carved up the last eight French Open titles while 2009 was the last time a final at Roland Garros did not feature at least one of them.
World number two Jannik Sinner, the man who succeeded Djokovic as Australian Open champion, has been laid low by a hip injury which caused him to skip the Rome Open.
The 22-year-old Italian reached the quarter-finals of the French Open on his debut in 2020 where he was defeated by Nadal in straight sets.
Sinner has an extra incentive to progress deep in Paris as he could depose Djokovic as world number one.
Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon champion, also skipped Rome to nurse an arm injury.
The world number three took the first set off Djokovic in their semi-final last year before body cramps saw his slip to defeat.
The Spanish crowd-pleaser admitted that his sudden and dramatic diminished physical state was caused by the fear of facing Djokovic.
AFP