Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka will not compete at Wimbledon. Begium David Goffin, also will not be present because of his affected right ankle on Monday in Halle. Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Wimbledon and will not take part in the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the player announced on social media on Thursday.
Nadal, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros (l. Djokovic) after winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell trophies, spoke of the need to recover physically after a demanding season on clay.
“It’s never an easy decision to make, but after listening to my body and discussing it with my team, I understand it’s the right decision,” Nadal said in a Twitter thread.
“The goal is to extend my career and to continue doing what makes me happy, which is to compete at the highest level and continue to fight for those professional and personal goals at the maximum competitive level.”
The Japanese Naomi Osaka, 2nd in the world rankings, had given up on continuing the Roland-Garros tournament last month in Paris after admitting to having problems with depression. She will not play the Wimbledon tennis tournament from June 28 to July 11 in London, her agent has said. “Naomi won’t play at Wimbledon this year. She takes time for herself, with her friends and family. She will be ready for the Olympics and cannot wait to perform in front of her home crowd. The Olympic tennis tournament in Tokyo will be played from July 24 to August 1.
Sentenced with a fine of $ 15,000, she was also threatened with exclusion not only from Roland Garros, but also from other Grand Slam events. Faced with this sudden rise in tension, she had preferred to leave the tournament, after having explained that she had gone through “long periods of depression” since 2018.
Osaka won in February the Australian Open her 4th Grand Slam tournament after her victories at the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and in Melbourne already in 2019. The Japanese woman was the highest paid sportswoman in the world, last year.
