The site of countless high points for Rafael Nadal has now become the one for a pressing, unanswered question.
The site of countless high points for Rafael Nadal has now become the one for a pressing, unanswered question.
He didn’t label it a French Open farewell ahead of the tournament, didn’t call it one even after his first-round loss Monday, but as he addressed the crowd in an on-court interview for more than five minutes after his straight-set loss, it certainly sounded as if it could’ve been a goodbye — or at the very least, one with those sentiments just in case.
Nadal, once the No. 1 tennis player in the world, lost No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev on Monday in the French Open — where Nadal, who now sits at No. 275 in the world tennis rankings, has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles.
The result was expected, given his injured-filled stretch across the past two years.
Retirement will inevitably follow for Nadal at some point, too.
But if this was the end of the 37-year-old Spainard at Roland Garros, if this was the final chapter for Nadal in a tournament where his name is the primary subject of its history book, then he received a fitting sendoff before he strolled off the clay courts for the final time.
“For me, it’s difficult to say what’s going on in the future,” Nadal said on the court.
