Aussie tennis great Todd Woodbridge has made the staggering prediction that Rafa Nadal won’t play the French Open next month. Nadal hasn’t played since suffering a hip injury in the second round of the Australian Open in January, despite initially saying he expected to miss around six to eight weeks.
The layoff has since stretched to 14 weeks, sparking major concerns that Nadal won’t be able to play his pet event at Roland Garros. The 22-time grand slam champion has won the French Open a record 14 times, but hasn’t even started his clay-court campaign yet.
He missed Masters 1000 events at Monte Carlo and Barcelona this month, while also announcing last week that he won’t be able to play in Madrid. The extended absence has left Woodbridge fearing the worst that Nadal won’t be in action at Roland Garros come May 28.
“I am starting to feel we’re not going to see him at Roland Garros. Not going to defend his title which would be enormous if that happened,” Woodbridge said on Channel 9 on Sunday.
“There is one tournament left for him to play, that is Rome, to get some matches. If he doesn’t get to Rome and get tennis under his belt, I cannot imagine that he would put that record on the line of how fantastic he’s been at winning Roland Garros by going there and losing early.”
Nadal boasts an extraordinary win-loss record at Roland Garros of 112-3, and has played every French Open since his title-winning debut in 2005. The defending champion has won five of the last six French Opens and 14 overall, making it practically unthinkable that he could miss the clay-court grand slam.
