Rafael Nadal crashed out of the French Open after falling in a first-round match to defending men’s Olympic champion, Alexander Zverev, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Despite his early dismissal, the 14-time French Open champion announced after his loss that he looks forward to the Paris Olympics in July. Nadal is a three-time Olympian, and captured gold in singles in 2008 and doubles in 2016 with teammate Marc Lopez.
“I hope to return to this court for the Paris Olympic Games, that motivates me and I hope to be well prepared. After the Games, I have to see how I am in terms of motivation, physicality and tennis level to see if it makes sense to continue playing,” Nadal said.
It was anticipated that Nadal would make an official goodbye announcement to the fans at Roland-Garros at the end of his run, but prior to the tournament, he asked organizers to cancel a farewell ceremony so as not to shut the door on a potential appearance in the future.
For the past 18 months, the Spaniard has battled injuries. Last June, he underwent surgery on his left hip flexor. Between 2023 and 2024, Nadal only had played six tournaments before his first-round match at Roland-Garros.
Adding to the excitement, World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, Nadal’s compatriot and current defending Wimbledon champion, confirmed after his first-round win that he and Nadal planned on playing doubles at the Olympics. “If everything goes well, we are going to play doubles together here [Roland-Garros].”
As Nadal prepares for Paris, he admitted that, due to his recent injuries, he might prioritize the Olympics over Wimbledon.
“It looks difficult, honestly,” he said. “For me now, I can’t confirm what’s going on, but it looks difficult to make a transition to grass, having the Olympics again on clay. But I don’t think it’s going to be smart after all the things that happened to my body to now make a big transition to a completely different surface and then come back immediately to clay
