After finishing Wimbledon, the best tennis players are already in Tokyo to compete for the gold in the Olympic Games 2020. However, half of the Top 20 male players are not going to compete at the Olympics. Among them, is World No 3, Rafael Nadal.
The Spanish is not only a 20-time Grand Slam winner, as he also tasted Olympic glory in 2008, when he won the gold medal against Nicolas Kiefer in Beijing. He is the only member of the ‘Big 3’ with gold in singles, as Roger Federer has won silver (London 2012) and gold in doubles (2008), while Novak Djokovic has bronze (2008).
Nadal played the first part of the season, winning two titles on clay in Rome and Barcelona. However, after losing in the semifinals of Roland Garros against Novak Djokovic, the Spaniard decided not to compete at Wimbledon nor the Olympic Games. Here, check out why he withdrew from Tokyo 2020.
Tokyo 2020: Why is Nadal not playing at the Olympics?
Two weeks before Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal explained in a series of tweets that he decided not to play in London and Tokyo. Nadal said that he needed time to recuperate after he played the clay season in its entirety.
Also, the Spanish explained that his goal was to “prolong” his career as much as possible. “They have been two months of great effort and the decision I take is focused on looking at the mid and long term,” he wrote on Twitter.
Without playing Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, Nadal will have plenty of time to rest ahead of the US Open, which starts in September. With an Olympic gold already in his stats, it seems like the Spanish has his mind on the record of Grand Slams that he shares with Djokovic and Federer.