Rafael Nadal Confirms He’ll Skip Wimbledon, Focus On Olympics

Rafael Nadal said at the French Open that Wimbledon wasn’t in the plans. Today, he confirmed it.

Nadal said instead of Wimbledon he’ll take a spot in Bastad on clay to prepare for the Paris Olympics at the end of July.

“During my post match press conference at Roland Garros I was asked about my summer calendar and since then I have been practicing on clay. It was announced yesterday that I will play at the summer Olympics in Paris, my last Olympics,” Nadal posted on Twitter/X.

“With this goal, we believe that the best for my body is not to change surface and keep playing on clay until then. It’s for this reason that I will miss playing at the Championships this year at Wimbledon. I am saddened not to be able to live this year the great atmosphere of that amazing event that will always be in my heart, and be with all the British fans that always gave me great support. I will miss you all.

“In order to prepare for the Olympic Games, I will play the tournament in Bastad, Sweden. A tournament that I played earlier in my career and where I had a great time both on and off the court. Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Thank you”

Nadal will likely never play Wimbledon again. He’s a 2-time champion there. He last played on the grass at the AELTC defeating Taylor Fritz in the 2022 quarterfinals in five sets. He then had to withdraw from his semifinal from Nick Kyrgios.

With Nadal not playing, Roger Federer retired and Novak Djokovic likely out, it would be the first Wimbledon without the Big 3 since 1998.