Tennis star Rafael Nadal has left his future open after the French Open.
“I’m playing this tournament because we manage things so that I’m ready to play the tournament. But I don’t know what happens after that,” said the 35-year-old Spaniard early in the morning after reaching the semi-finals in Paris. Nadal had previously defeated Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic in 4:12 hours 6: 2, 4: 6, 6: 2, 7: 6 (7: 4).
The record Grand Slam winner has been playing with a chronic foot injury, the so-called Müller-Weiss syndrome, for a long time. Just three weeks ago, Nadal could hardly walk at the end of a match at the tournament in Rome. “Having a doctor with me here helps a lot,” said Nadal. “But the last three months haven’t been easy so I was very emotional after the game today,” admitted the 13-time Paris champion.
Nadal’s full focus is now on the semifinals against Alexander Zverev on Friday and a possible final on Sunday. After that you have to see how it goes. “I have what I have in my foot, so if we’re not able to find an improvement or a little solution to that, then it’s going to be super difficult for me,” said Nadal. “Of course I will continue to fight to find a solution, but so far we haven’t found any.”