Rafael Nadal has expressed his desire to c compete for a record 15th French Open crown after receiving a replica statue from the French Tennis Federation (FFT). Recovering from a grade two tear to his iliopsoas muscle in a R2 defeat to Mackenzie McDonald at Australian Open, Nadal has been out of action for over 2 months.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion was expected to return after 6 or 8 weeks but now it appears that injury was more severe than assumed with Nadal saying he ‘can’t confirm’ whether he will be able to play at Monte Carlo Masters.
However, Nadal is hitting the practice courts back home at his academy and has posted the images of him training on the clay. The 14-time conqueror at Parisian clay Nadal is most successful player at the French major. The closest to him is Chris Evert who gathers 7 open Era titles at the Roland Garros.
Honored by the tournament, a statue of Nadal was unveiled at RG in 2021. Constructed entirely of steel, standing at 3×4.89 meters and 2 meter deep, this was Roland Garros’ tribute to the living legend form Mallorca. Now the Spaniard has been offered a replica of his Roland-Garros steel sculpture by tournament director Amélie Mauresmo and FFT (French Tennis Federation) President Gilles Moretton.
“It is a great privilege to welcome you here in my academy. You know how much Roland-Garros and this place mean to me,” said Nadal about the most important tournament of life.
He continued, “Having you here is a very special moment, and I can’t thank you enough for coming, along with some of the staff with whom I am very close at Roland-Garros.”
“Thank you so much for sending this replica of the big one at Roland-Garros. For me, it is incredible to have my sculpture at Roland-Garros and now I have one here, and that means a lot.”
Despite only having four wins under his belt so far in the current season, Nadal also revealed his intent to put another fight at the Paris major, “I really hope to see you again this year at Roland-Garros, and I will try to be competitive.”
On the entry list of Monte Carlo, the 36-year old is awaited at the first Clay Masters of the season that will begin on April 9, 2022, however his final status on return still needs to be updated as he not confirmed any dates on his return.