Rafael Nadal to withdraw from French Open 2023: Reports

According to reports, Rafael Nadal, a 14-time French Open winner, will withdraw from the Grand Slam tournament in France which is set to commence on May 22.

The Spaniard picked up an abdominal strain during the Australian Open earlier this year, similar to the one he suffered at the 2022 Wimbledon Championship. As a result, he was forced to withdraw from the Dubai Tennis Championships as well as the Qatar Open.

He later announced his withdrawal from the Indian Wells and Miami Masters events. This was followed by back-to-back withdrawals from the Monte-Carlo Masters, the Barcelona Open and the Madrid Open.

The southpaw was set to return to the court at the ongoing Italian Open. But earlier this month, he posted on social media that he would not be participating in Rome either.

Despite this, tennis fans were still hopeful that Rafael Nadal was honing his skills for the French Open in the meantime. This belief was seemingly dashed on Wednesday, May 17, when a Spanish website called Relevo reported that Nadal would not be competing at Roland-Garros this year.

According to the report, the reason for Nadal's absence from the clay court Grand Slam is that he has tried everything to recover from the injury but without success.

Rafael Nadal's withdrawal will pave the way for Novak Djokovic to overtake him in the Grand Slam race

Both players pictured together at the 2022 French Open - Day Ten.

If Rafael Nadal does indeed withdraw from the 2023 French Open, his arch-rival Novak Djokovic will have a great chance of winning his 23rd Major and passing him in the Grand Slam race. Both players currently have 22 Grand Slam titles each.

After missing some big tournaments in 2023 due to his unvaccinated status, the Serb was looking to win his first Masters of the season at the 2023 Italian Open. However, Danish teenager Holger Rune ended his run in the quarter-finals.

Even after that defeat, however, Djokovic will be the top favorite to win the title at Roland-Garros if Nadal is unable to compete. The Serb has won the French Open twice previously, in 2016 and 2021.