Tennis icon Rafael Nadal on Thursday announced that he has decided to skip this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and Tokyo Olympic Games after “listening” to his body.
Nadal took to Twitter and wrote: “Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. 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 the maximum level of competition.”
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.
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 17, 2021
He further added, “The fact that there has only been 2 weeks between RG and Wimbledon, didn’t make it easier on my body to recuperate after the always demanding clay court season. 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.”
The Spanish tennis player said, “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 took this decision days after he was defeated by Serbia’s world number one Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi finals. Nadal had struggled with back injury earlier this year. He had only played in Australian Open and French Open in 2021.
