Nadal and Roland Garros, together again: the bad move of the draw and the hope of seeing him again in Paris at the Olympic Games

Rafael Nadal and Roland Garros meet again. And, without a doubt, it will be special. Although the Spanish tennis player did not want to confirm it, many believe that this may be the last time he will be seen playing the Grand Slam, which he won no less than 14 times. The king of brick dust returns to Paris and everyone hopes that it will not be his last time this year in the French capital, where in a couple of months the Olympic Games will take place.

The injury to the psoas did not allow Nadal to be present last year at Roland Garros to defend the title won in 2022 and even questioned whether he would return to the courts this season. Rafa returned and, at 38, it is quite possible that he will have his “Last Dance” on a stage that he took over to the point of losing only four games (one for no performance) in 18 years. And that will be the same in Paris 2024.

The return for Nadal will be far from easy, not only because of the logical physical question. The 276th place he currently holds in the ranking put him at risk for the draw and as luck would have it that in the first round he would have to face one of the best, the German Alexander Zverev, number four in the world and a semifinalist in the last three editions.

Nadal won seven of the 10 matches against Zverev and the last one was precisely at Roland Garros, a couple of years ago, a very painful memory for the German because he had to retire due to a serious ankle injury that kept him away from the circuit for almost a year. The Spaniard went to the final and then won the 14th title in Paris by defeating the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final with a categorical 6-3, 6-3 and 6-0.

“It was a shame,” said Amélie Mauresmo, former number one in the world and current director of the tournament. Of course, everyone wants to see as much as possible of Nadal on the court and to prevent the tribute they prepared for him from being early. Later in the table, the Danish Holger Rune could appear in the eighth round, the Russian Daniil Medvedeev in the quarterfinals and the Serbian Novak Djokovic, who will begin defending the title against the Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert and will defend the number one in the world to which the Italian Jannik Sinner also aspires.

Sinner, second in the world and winner of the first Grand Slam in Australia, will face the American Christopher Eubanks and is in the same place in the table as the third-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who would face in a hypothetical semifinal.

Rafael Nadal’s dream of the last Olympic medal

Just as Roland Garros may be the last in Nadal’s career, Paris 2024 could also be the Spanish tennis player’s Olympic farewell after having played Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. The fact that it’s in Paris also makes it special.

Rafa won the gold medal in single in Beijing after defeating Chilean Fernando González in the final and eight years later he was crowned in Rio de Janeiro with Marc López after beating the Romanians Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea in the definition.

In the doubles there is the possibility that Nadal will be present in Paris and could form a couple with none other than Alcaraz. “It’s a great illusion and I’ve been told it’s for him too. It would be a good thing for both of us and I think also for the Spanish team,” said Rafa and Carlos was excited: “As I have said many times, if everything goes well, we are going to play doubles there”.

Nadal’s season started in January in Brisbane (he fell in the quarterfinals to Australian Jordan Thompson) and only returned to play in April in Barcelona (he lost in the second round to fellow Australian Alex de Miñaur). His other two tournaments were the Masters 1000 in Madrid (he was eliminated by the Czech Jiri Lehecka in the eighth round) and Roma (he fell in the second round with the Polish Hubert Hurkacz). The time has come for Roland Garros. Will it be the last?