Daniil Medvedev is rooting for “amazing player” Rafael Nadal to fully recover from his injury and be a Grand Slam contender again when he returns to action.
On Thursday, Nadal held a press conference in Mallorca, where he announced his withdrawal from the French Open and also his plans to retire in 2024.
At the Australian Open, Nadal sustained an injury to his psoas muscle.
“Hopefully he can come back as fast as possible because he’s an amazing player, amazing athlete, one of the best in the history. We can argue about this but hopefully he can come back and play some more Slams as long as he can and we’ll see how it goes,” Medvedev said, per Eurosport.
Medvedev acknowledges Nadal’s stunning French Open success
Nadal is a record 14-time French Open champion and he is the owner of one of the most astonishing records in all sports.
“I guess it’s a first Roland Garros in whatever, 10 years, where there is no Rafa and probably out of these ten he won it probably what, nine, eight times. It opens the possibility for many players because even if he would not be let’s call it 100% physically but he would decide to play, he would be favourite, for sure,” Medvedev said.
For now, Nadal’s priority is to return to being fully healthy.
Then, Nadal’s goal will be to do well in 2024.
Without any doubt, Nadal’s top goals will be to do well at the 2024 French Open and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“My idea and my motivation is to try to enjoy the Tour and say goodbye to all the tournaments that I enjoyed playing. The Olympic Games are one of them, but I can’t say yet that it will be my last tournament or not,” Nadal said.
It remains to be seen when we will see Nadal play again.