Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon and Olympics

By Sports Desk June 17, 2021

Rafael Nadal will not compete at Wimbledon or the Olympic Games as he bids to prolong his prolific career.

The 20-time grand slam champion was knocked out of the French Open at the semi-final stage by eventual winner Novak Djokovic.

And, with just a two-week gap to the grass-court slam in London, the 35-year-old has opted against taking part at the All England Club or the Games in Tokyo.

"Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year's Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo," the Spaniard tweeted.

"It's never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision.

"The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at he maximum level of competition."

Nadal explained that the quick turnaround from a gruelling campaign in Paris to another tough schedule at Wimbledon presented too much of a risk to his fitness.

"The fact that there has only been two weeks between RG [Roland Garros] and Wimbledon didn't make it easier on my body to recuperate after the always demanding clay court season," he said.

"They have been two months of great effort and the decision I take is focused looking at the mid and long term.

"Sport prevention of any kind of excess in my body is a very important factor at this stage of my career in order to try to keep fighting for the highest level of competition and titles.

"I want to send a special message to my fans around the world, to those in the United Kingdom and Japan in particular.

"The Olympic Games always meant a lot and they were always a priority as a Sports person, I found the spirit that every sports person in the world wants to live. I personally had the chance to live 3 of them and had the honor to be the flag bearer for my country."

Nadal is a two-time Wimbledon champion and took gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Related items

  • Sinner and Berrettini send defending champions Italy into Davis Cup final Sinner and Berrettini send defending champions Italy into Davis Cup final

    Jannik Sinner's victory over Alex de Minaur clinched Italy's place in another Davis Cup final, with Matteo Berrettini also victorious as the defending champions beat Australia 2-0.

    Italy won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1976 last year, and they will have an opportunity to defend their crown against the Netherlands on Sunday.

    Former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini got the ball rolling with an entertaining 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-5 victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis, not surrendering a break after losing the opener in a tie-break. 

    That teed up Sinner to close out Italy's victory, with the world number one overcoming De Minaur 6-3 6-4, the same scoreline he beat the Australian by at the ATP Finals earlier this month.

    Speaking after his victory in Malaga, Sinner said: "It means a lot. It was a tough encounter, playing Alex. We know each other quite well now, so I have to be very careful every time.

    "It's a very tough challenge for me, so I was looking forward to this one. Obviously, it helped a lot that Matteo won the singles today. He played amazing tennis. It was very high quality. 

    "Hopefully, this can give us some confidence for [Sunday]. It's going to be a very difficult and tough day for us and also the Netherlands."

    Data Debrief: Back-to-back for Italy

    Italy's men are looking to follow in the footsteps of their female counterparts, who won the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this week.

    They are just the third nation in history to make back-to-back finals at both the Davis Cup and the Federation/Billie Jean King Cup, after the United States (1963-64, 1978-79, 1981-82 and 1990-91) and Australia (1963-64 and 1964-65).

  • Djokovic appoints Murray as coach for Australian Open Djokovic appoints Murray as coach for Australian Open

    Novak Djokovic has announced his long-term former rival Andy Murray as his coach for the Australian Open in 2025.

    Murray, a three-time Grand Slam winner, announced his retirement earlier this year and played his final match at the Paris Olympics in August.

    He will join Djokovic's team in the off-season and coach him through the opening grand slam of the year, which begins on January 12.

    This will be Murray's first coaching role since retiring following a 19-year career.

    "We played each other since we were boys. 25 years of being rivals, of pushing each other beyond our limits," Djokovic said in a video on social media.

    "We had some of the most epic battles in our sport. They called us game changers, risk-takers, history makers.

    "I thought our story may be over - turns out it has one final chapter.

    "It's time for one of my toughest opponents to step into my corner. Welcome onboard coach, Andy Murray."

    Djokovic failed to win a major title for the first time since 2017, though he did clinch a long-awaited Olympic gold medal in Paris.

    The Serb is currently level with Margaret Court for the most major singles titles by any player. He has a good record in Australia though, winning 10 times in Melbourne, beating Murray in four of those finals.

    Murray, who beat Djokovic to win the US Open title in 2012 and Wimbledon the following year, says he hopes they can achieve success together.

    "I'm going to be joining Novak's team in the off-season, helping him to prepare for the Australian Open," Murray said.

    "I'm really excited for it and looking forward to spending time on the same side of the net as Novak for a change, helping him to achieve his goals."

  • Griekspoor heroics send the Netherlands to historic Davis Cup final Griekspoor heroics send the Netherlands to historic Davis Cup final

    Tallon Griekspoor produced a thrilling comeback to help the Netherlands reach the Davis Cup final for the very first time after they downed Germany 2-0 in Malaga. 

    After losing the opening set to Jan-Lennard Struff, Griekspoor held his nerve to emerge a 4-6 (4-7) 7-5 6-4 victor on an enthralling day of action on Friday. 

    Earlier in the day, Botic van de Zandschulp, who beat Rafael Nadal in the final match of the Spaniard's career on Tuesday, put the Dutch 1-0 up with a win over Daniel Altmaier. 

    The world number 80 needed 10 match points to wrap up a tense 6-4 6-7 (12-14) 6-3 victory, after Altmaier saved five break points in a second set tie-break.

    Griekspoor then stopped the best-of-three tie from going to the deciding doubles, rallying back with a fine display, though Struff let two crucial break points slip in the eighth game of the second set.

    “We have been talking about this [moment] for two or three years,” said Griekspoor.

    “We came here all the time with unbelievably tough draws, but we believed in ourselves so much. We always felt like this was possible.

    "To do it now feels unbelievable. I am so happy for the team, and for Holland.

    “I just tried to focus on my own game. I felt like he was playing unbelievable tennis, I didn’t do much wrong in the first set.

    "I’m super proud of myself, super proud of the effort and very happy to get the win in the end.”

    The Netherlands await either reigning Davis Cup champions Italy or Australia, who face off in the other semi-final on Saturday.

    Data Debrief: Dutch delight

    After reaching the semi-final stage for only the second time this century, the Netherlands produced arguably their finest display of the tournament against Germany. 

    It meant that after 185 ties played at the event across a 104-year timeframe, they had finally reached the showpiece match at the tournament for the first time. 

    But their victory was made possible by Griekspoor, who converted both his break points, while fittingly sealing his encounter with his 25th ace of the contest. 

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.