Rafael Nadal was at his jovial best as he reflected on his training in a post-match press conference after a painful 2024 French Open campaign. He lost to world number four Aleksandr Zverev 6–3, 7–6(5), 6–3 in the first round on Monday, May 27. Nadal has struggled a lot with his form over the last two years.
The Spaniard won the first two Grand Slams of 2022 before suffering an abdominal injury in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. In 2023, he suffered a hip injury at the Australian Open that forced him to sit out the rest of the season.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion returned in 2024 and again had to deal with an injury at the Brisbane Open, which ruled him out until the Barcelona Open. After losing to Alexander Zverev at the French Open, Nadal talked about his physical struggles, offering a rather amusing analogy.
He compared his body to a forest inhabited by deadly animals. Rafael Nadal has recovered from a hip injury in time to return to competition at the start of the 2024 season. He entered the Brisbane International to test the waters ahead of the Australian Open but decided to skip the Melbourne Slam after pulling out of the previous competition.
The problem for Nadal and his fans is that he didn’t get enough points against Alexander Zverev. Not a game old enough to give his nearly 38-year-old, oft-injured body another win, no matter what the people in the stands try to do. And so, he lost to Zverev 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the first round of the French Open in what could turn out to be Nadal’s last match in the clay-court tournament he has dominated for so long.
French Open: Rafael Nadal speaks to the crowd
“It’s hard for me to speak, I don’t know if this is the last time I’ll be here in front of you.”
“Oh honestly, I’m not sure. If so, you were amazing. Today’s feelings are hard to describe in words. This is the place I love the most,” Nadal said emotionally on the court after his loss, the fourth ever in the last 20 years at the French Open.”
“Maybe in two months, I’ll say enough is enough. can’t give anything else, but it’s something I don’t know yet. I hope to return to this field at the Olympics, it motivates me,” he added.
“I hope to see you again, but I don’t know.”
“My body has been in the jungle for two years. You don’t know what to expect. One day I wake up to be bitten by a snake, the next day by a tiger. It was a hard fight with all the people I went through, but the dynamic has been positive in recent weeks.”
Rafael Nadal: “I went through this whole process with the dream of being back here at Roland Garros”.
