Nadal to sit out Wimbledon, Olympics to recuperate, focus on long-term career
Madrid, Jun 17 (EFE).- Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal on Thursday announced he would not participate in Wimbledon or the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer.
“It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discussing it with my team I understand that it is the right decision,” the ATP World No. 3 said in a Twitter statement.
“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.”
He said that the two-week turnaround between Roland Garros, where he made the semi-final, and Wimbledon was not enough time for his body to fully recover.
“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 in order to try to keep fighting for the highest level of competition and titles,” the 35-year-old added.
“I want to send a special message to my fans around the world, to those in the United Kingdom and Japan in particular.”
Nadal has represented Spain at three different Summer Olympics.
The Spaniard has won 20 Grand Slam titles, a record he shares with Roger Federer, and is widely regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time.EFE
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