Rata Nadal has withdrawn from two major upcoming tennis events; the Wimbledon and Tokyo Olympics on health grounds.
Nadal is joint with Roger Federer on 20 grand slam titles. (a record)
He won the Olympics Gold (Singles) & (Doubles) at the Beijing 2008 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 respectively.
The Spaniard who turned 35 on June 3rd, is referred to as the “king of clay” having won Roland-Garros a record 13 times and has a total of 88 career titles
He has been ranked No. 1 in the ATP rankings for 209 weeks and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times.
In a statement to announce his withdrawal, Nadal said, “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 fact that there have 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 on 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 to try to keep fighting for the highest level of competition and titles.
“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 Sportsperson, I found the spirit that every sportsperson in the world wants to live. I had the chance to live with 3 of them and had the honor to be the flag bearer for my country.“
