{"id":297837,"date":"2023-05-17T23:11:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T23:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297837"},"modified":"2023-05-18T00:59:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T00:59:54","slug":"fans-hold-their-breath-as-major-nadal-news-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=297837","title":{"rendered":"Fans hold their breath as major Nadal news looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffafael Nadal<\/a> has called a press conference to announce what tennis<\/a> fans hope will only be him missing this year's Roland-Garros<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old champion – who turns 37 next month – \ufeffhas not missed the French grand slam since 2004, when an ankle injury ruined his season.<\/p>\n

But it's been looking more and more likely he won't be on hand this year to defend his title when the tournament begins on Monday week.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Gould prediction that foresaw brewing Dragons mess\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Eddie's grim warning to Tasmania over protests<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Floods cause cancellation of Italian Grand Prix<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

He will front media on Thursday evening (AEST) and is expected to announce his withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Fans are hoping the announcement is not the end of his tennis career, which is on par with Roger Federer<\/a> and Novak Djokovic<\/a> as the best ever in the men's game.<\/p>\n

\"MELBOURNE,<\/p>\n

Nadal sits equal with Djokovic on a record 22 men's major singles\ufeff titles, and has won Roland-Garros a record 14 times, including last year to become the tournament's oldest champion at 36.<\/p>\n

He is known as the king of clay, having won 63 of his 92 titles on the surface which the French Open is played on.<\/p>\n

Nadal last played at the Australian Open where he lost to Mackenzie McDonald in the second round and was badly hampered by injury.\ufeff<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/peterp79\/status\/1658951454164672512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

A hip flexor injury has sidelined him since, and now looks set to rob him of his Roland-Garros defence.<\/p>\n

Since the injury he has missed events in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and the Italian Open this week.<\/p>\n

Of the big three, Federer retired from professional tennis last year, while Djokovic continues to compete and was on Thursday knocked out of the Italian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffafael Nadal has called a press conference to announce what tennis fans hope will only be him missing this year's Roland-Garros. The 36-year-old champion – […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297837"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297837"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297839,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297837\/revisions\/297839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/288736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}