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Rafael Nadal after his 14th win at the French Open
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MARTIN DIVISEK v EPA
After his 14th triumph at the French Open, Rafael Nadal himself did not completely rule out a start at the classic lawn in Wimbledon.
“When my body is ready for Wimbledon, I will be at Wimbledon.
If not, then not," said the 36-year-old Spaniard on Sunday in Paris after his final win against the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Everything depends on whether a planned treatment for his injured foot will take effect in the coming week or not.
Wimbledon starts on June 27th.
In Paris, Nadal said he received injections to numb his foot for two weeks before each game.
"I played with a numb foot, the nerves were blocked," Nadal said.
But that is not an alternative for Wimbledon.
"I respect Wimbledon a lot, it's always an important goal of the year.
But no, I won't do something like that again for Wimbledon," said Nadal, "that makes no sense."
If the planned treatment in the coming week does not give the desired result, he would also have to think about a “major operation”.
"It's obvious that I can't go on like this and I don't want to go on," Nadal said.
"But I've always thought step by step in my career, and that's how I'm going to do it this time."
Nadal suffers from the rare Müller-Weiss syndrome, which is why his left foot has always caused him great pain in the past.
Because of the illness, the long-standing number one in the world had to miss almost the entire second part of the season last year since the French Open.
His comeback at the beginning of the year was all the more impressive when he won his 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open - leaving Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (20 titles each) behind in the all-time list.
His French Open start this year had also been open for a long time because of the complaints.
On the fringes of the final, there was even speculation that the end of his career was near.
Nadal clearly won the match 6: 3, 6: 3, 6: 0.
ara/dpa
