Rafael Nadal withdraws from French Open 2023 – Alex Corretja ‘feels empty’ after Roland-Garros announcement

The news of Rafael Nadal missing the 2023 French Open has got the whole tennis world talking and wondering what could be next for him. Someone who is as disappointed as anyone is fellow Spaniard Alex Corretja.

“It’s very weird,” Corretja told Eurosport in reaction to the news. “It’s very unusual to go into Roland-Garros not having Rafa. It is going to be very strange without him.

“I thought that he was going to be able to win, even if he didn’t play too many tournaments before because he is Rafa – the greatest guy in history, for sure, on those courts.

“I feel empty. It is not going to be the same without Rafa at Roland-Garros. What he has achieved at the tournament is impossible to repeat, in my opinion. I was hoping he could have a few warm-up tournaments, but given he has taken this decision, it means he was not ready for best-of-five-set matches.

“I totally understand the decision and I think it is very smart because he has been trying his best in order to be ready for the clay-court season. If he sees that he is not able to play at Roland-Garros, I think it is time to reset and refresh to give himself time to properly recover for the future.

“Only from this, he will know what he needs to do in the future. I think it is very clever, and if he is going to physically be able to play next year, I am sure that he will make it and he will be ready for one last important year on the tour.

“He is saying ‘okay, if I am able to come back physically, mentally I will be ready, but that will be the end – that will be my last dance’. He is seeing that he is struggling physically with his body, so I really love that decision.

“He deserves the right to go to every tournament with everyone giving him the credit of what he has done for so many years. That would be awesome because 2024 would be a year we would all remember with Rafa finishing his career. So hopefully he will be healthy for that.

“He knows that he has been struggling physically for different reasons. When he makes that last effort, it is going to be the last effort. His body will resist, but his mind wants to commit. That is why he is saying ‘if I’m ready to play next year, that is my last one’.

“He is proving to himself that he is doing everything he possibly can, even though he was not ready to play in 2023. It is very important for him to play at one more Roland-Garros so that will be him giving everything he has left.”

“I don’t tell players to retire because years later, they may regret it. But if you give everything then you can rest for the remainder of your life knowing you gave 100%,” he continued.

“That is what amazes me most about Rafa: he overcomes everything, and his achievements will be impossible to repeat.

“I don’t think it was because he saw Roger Federer bowing out or because of having his kid. I think if he was physically good, he would keep playing, but he has sacrificed so many things with his body that he has had to take this decision.

“He would have combined his family life with playing if he had been healthy, but physically after everything he has done, it is difficult to keep on going the same way.”

On Nadal having to watch Roland-Garros from home, Corretja suggest that “it will be very weird for him, but he will be amazed by what he has been able to achieve at the event when he watches it on TV.”

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