The presence of Rafael Nadal at the 2024 French Open is far from certain, and the Spaniard has since clarified when he will be able to make a decision to play there.
Nadal returned to action at last week’s Barcelona Open after recovering from a hip injury. However, persistent pain still perturbs him and limits his ability to play at his full capacity.
After scoring a comfortable win over Flavio Cobolli, the 37-year-old was beaten in straight sets by World No. 11 Alex de Minaur in the second round in Barcelona.
He stepped up his preparations by signing up to play another home tournament, this time at the Madrid Open, where he entered the field with a protected ranking but admitted he was not at 100%.
His first-round match pitted him against his lowest-ranked opponent ever on the ATP tour – 16-year-old American Darwin Blanch. The youngster was the first player with a four-digit ranking that Nadal had faced in his long career.
And despite Nadal being ranked outside the world’s Top 500 because of persistent injury struggles, he is a former World No. 1, and the gulf in class between the two players was evident on the match court.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion bulldozed his way past the American teenager in straight sets, winning 6-1, 6-0 in an hour and six minutes. Speaking after the match, Nadal was impressed by Blanch’s potential but still acknowledged he was a rookie learning his trade.
The Spaniard took positives from the match, which was a win with no obvious signs of detrimental injury. However, he maintained that a decision on whether he will play Roland Garros is not yet clear and will only be revealed after playing in the Italian Open in Rome.
“Darwin (Blanch) has a lot of potential but missed a lot. Made my life easy. It was an hour match. It doesn’t change anything about my perspective on Roland Garros. I won’t make a decision about Paris here in Madrid. I will decide after playing Rome.”
