Tennis legend Rod Laver has expressed his wish to watch Rafael Nadal play “one more time” before he calls it a day on his glorious career.
The Australian living tennis legend praised Nadal’s career and described 37-year-old as “a student of the game.” Nadal has been out of action since sustaining a hip injury in the R2 loss against American Mackenzie McDonald at the AO in January. The Spaniard had to go under knife in order to treat the hurt hip in June. Having initially expected to be out for 6-8 weeks, he was ultimately forced to miss his beloved clay-court swing before pulling out of the whole season.
Nadal’s last major triumph came at 2022 French Open where he emphatically defeated Norwegian Casper Ruud in a straight-sets final. He also came from behind (trailed by two sets) to defeat Daniil Medvedev in the five-set final at that year’s Australian Open but picked multiple injuries since 2023 Indian Wells.
On the final day of 2023 Laver Cup – last week, the 11-time GS Champion (at his namesake event) answered questions from tennis Twitterati. The 85-year-old was asked how much he was looking forward to seeing Nadal play again upon his return to the tour.
“Rafa has had such a great career. I’d love to be able to see him play one more time. He’s a student of the game,” said the Australian in a Tweet.
Rafa has had such a great career. I'd love to be able to see him play one more time. He's a student of the game.
— Rod Laver (@rodlaver) September 24, 2023
Laver a two-time Calendar Slam achiever and also the only man to win the coveted Calendar Grand Slam in the Open Era in 1969, also commented on Spaniard’s injury-enforced withdrawal from this year’s Roland Garros.
“You will be missed at Roland Garros this year @RafaelNadal, the King of Clay always. Your outstanding physical power, fighting spirit and dedication to tennis is unrivalled in the modern era. Rest up, mate. I look forward to seeing you again, on court or off,” Laver said on Twitter.
Nadal is 14-time titlist at the French major tiles and has lost just on three occasions in 115 matches on the Parisian clay. This was the first season where the former world No 22-time major winner missed clay-court slam since 2004 after recording his debut at the event in 2005.
In a press conference announcing his withdrawal from the French Open in May, Nadal declared that next year could be his farewell tour.
“My goal and my ambition is to try and stop and give myself an opportunity to enjoy the next year that will probably be my last year in the professional tour,” the Spaniard told reporters.
“That is my idea but I can’t say 100 per cent it will be like this, but my idea and my motivation is to try to enjoy and say goodbye to all the tournaments that have been important for me. To enjoy being competitive and something that today is not possible. I believe, if I keep going now, I will not be able to make it happen.”