'My intention is for 2024 to be my last year'

Rafael Nadal on Thursday withdrew from the French Open because his hip injury has not healed and said he expects 2024 to be his final year in professional tennis.

"It's not a decision I'm taking, it's a decision my body is taking," said the 36-year-old Spanish player, who has played at the claycourt major every year since 2005 and won it 14 times.

Nadal said he was taking a few months off, meaning he will also definitely miss Wimbledon and most likely the US Open, before starting to play again. And he said next year would bring down the curtain on a career that has so far produced 22 Grand Slam singles titles.

"It's probably going to be my last year on the professional tour, I can't say this 100 percent because you never know what's going to happen," he told a news conference. "The injury I suffered in Australia has not healed as we hoped.

"Roland Garros became impossible. I will not be there after many years, with everything that (tournament) means to me."

Nadal said he will not set a date for his return, but said the Davis Cup in November could be a potential target.

The former World No. 1 has not played since the Australian Open in January where he picked up a hip injury in a shock second round loss to Mackenzie McDonald of the United States.

He was expected to recover inside six weeks, comfortably in time for the claycourt season and to launch an assault on a record-extending 15th title at Roland Garros.

However, with his 37th birthday little over two weeks away and having skipped Masters events in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome, Nadal appears to be facing a final battle he cannot win.

After a career plagued by knee, wrist and foot injuries in particular, the alarm bells have been ringing ever louder over the last year.

Nadal's undefeated start to 2022, which saw him pick up a second Australian Open title, ended with a chest injury at Indian Wells.

"It feels like a needle all the time inside," he admitted.

He swept to a 14th French Open in June but only after revealing he had required daily pain-killing injections in his foot, a consequence of suffering from Mueller-Weiss Syndrome, a rare degenerative condition. "I played with no feeling in the foot, with a pain-killing injection in the nerve. The foot was asleep, and that's why I was able to play," he said at the time in Paris.

Yesterday, he admitted to feeling that he deserved better.

"I have made an effort so that my end is not here, in a press conference," he sincerely reflected. "I don't want to let go early. It's always worth making one more effort. That's always been my philosophy."

Nadal added that he was unable to train properly, saying: "I not here just to continue training. It's been a frustrating few months so you have to put a stop to everything. I need to stop because otherwise I don't think I can make it to next year."

He added that he would try to give his best for what he expected to be his last year on tour.

"I'm going to try to give myself the opportunity to compete again. My intention is for it to be my last year, but you never know what's going to happen. I'm going to try to compete at the highest level and win tournaments. But we will have to wait to see the reality.

"It is difficult for me to think beyond, but I have already said that my 'intention' is this. Is it possible for it to continue? It is possible, but it is also unlikely," Rafa Nadal asserted.