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Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon, Tokyo Olympics

Spain's Rafael Nadal waves after defeating Argentina's Diego Schwartzman in their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium Wednesday, June 9, 2021 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (Michel Euler, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Tennis star Rafael Nadal announced Thursday morning on social media that he will not be playing in both this year’s Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.

In a thread on Twitter, the 35-year-old Nadal explained the rigors of the tennis schedule following the French Open and how, at this stage of his career, what efforts the 20-time Grand Slam champion has to take to maintain care of his body.

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“The fact that there has only been 2 weeks between RG (the French Open) and Wimbledon, didn’t make it easier on my body to recuperate after the always demanding clay court season,” Nadal tweeted. “They have been two months of great effort and the decision I take is focused looking at the mid and long term.

“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 won men’s singles tennis gold in 2008 in Beijing and won gold again in men’s doubles for tennis in 2016, when he was the flag bearer for Spain in the opening ceremony. He is a two-time winner of Wimbledon amongst his 20 Grand Slam titles. Nadal is coming off a French Open where he advanced to last week’s semifinal before falling to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

What do you think of the move for Nadal? Let us know in the comments.


About the Author
Howard Chen headshot

Born in Canada but raised in Houston, Howard joined KPRC 2 in 2021 after five years at ESPN. Before that, Howard was a reporter on Houston Rockets and Houston Astros game broadcasts. Among the events that Howard has covered on site: the NBA bubble and the Basketball Hall of Fame inductions for both Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. He's H-town proud!

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