Rafael Nadal announced on Friday that he intends to play at Wimbledon for the first time in three years despite his lingering foot injury. The 36-year-old, speaking at a press conference in Mallorca, Spain, said that he will be going to London on Monday to play in the grand slam he has twice won, based on how his foot feels.
“If there is any possibility, which it looks like,” Nadal explained, “my intention is to travel to London on Monday. I will play an exhibition match at Hurlingham as I’ve done many times before, and prepare myself in the best way possible.”
Rafael Nadal: “I haven’t played at Wimbledon for three years and I’m very excited to be back. But we’ll see how my foot progresses day by day, because it’s a day-by-day thing. I trust that things will go well and I can train well this week so that I have a chance to compete well at Wimbledon.” After winning his 14th French Open title earlier this month, Nadal has been suffering with an injury to his foot for some time now, and it’s an ongoing problem that requires daily injections in order to keep playing and training.
Nadal told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he has struggled with injury problems throughout his career. The only thing I can say is going through all these challenges, I always hold the passion to keep going and I always hold the love for the game,” he added. “I always wanted to keep going. That’s probably why I am in the position that I am today.”
Because of the 2019 pandemic, which canceled Wimbledon in 2020, Rafael Nadal hasn’t played at Wimbledon since losing to Roger Federer in the semifinals in 2019. Although the Spaniard has ongoing injury concerns, he has already won two grand slams this season — the Australian Open and the French Open — as he attempts to win an extraordinary calendar grand slam. This year’s Wimbledon gets underway on June 27 but will be without Federer and Alexander Zverev because of their injuries.