PARIS– The French tennis federation has postponed holding a ceremony to honor Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros this year because he said it may not necessarily be his last appearance at the tournament, where he has won a record 14 times.
Tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said on Sunday, Day 1 of the clay-court Grand Slam, that Nadal informed officials he did not want to close the door on his return before telling the world as much in a pre-tournament press conference.
“As you can imagine, we had something planned for him. But… as he doesn’t know if it will be his last Roland Garros or not, he wants to leave the door open to perhaps return next year as a player. So we’re not going to pressure him, obviously, to do anything,” said Mauresmo.
“It’s his decision when he wants to have a proper ceremony, a proper goodbye, a proper farewell. So let’s not do that this year. That’s his wish,” she continued. “And even though we were ready to push the button if something happened, we’re obviously going to respect what he wants and make sure we’re ready whenever he feels like he wants to do that. Still this year; Next year; whenever he wants.”
Nadal, who turns 38 on June 3 and has previously said he hopes this will be his last season, will face No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev in the first round on Monday. The match is scheduled for the third at the main stadium, Court Philippe Chatrier, and could start at around 3:30 pm local time (9:30 am EDT).
Here are some answers to questions about Nadal and Zverev:
Despite having such a dominant record at the French Open, Nadal was unseeded and therefore could have been placed anywhere in the bracket and stuck against anyone, even the best opponents. Because of injuries including a surgically repaired hip and a troublesome abdominal muscle, Nadal has competed little over the past two seasons, going just 7-4 in 2024, and thus someone who was ranked No. 1 and has spent more than a decade inside the top 10 is now outside the top 250.
This is Nadal’s first unseeded Grand Slam tournament since the 2005 Australian Open. The top 32 players in the men’s and women’s draws are seeded, and the rankings are based on the ATP and WTA rankings, which take into account the results of the Most recent 52 weeks. In theory, Mauresmo could have chosen to bend the rules and go ahead and award a spot to Nadal based on his past performances in Paris. But that was never really considered, she said, in part because “giving protection to some players” would result in “a lot of other issues and problems” and because “it also has to be OK with other Grand Slams and everything.”
Ranked players like Zverev are guaranteed to avoid facing another ranked player before the third round of a Grand Slam tournament, which has fields of 128 players and requires seven wins to win a championship.
Players tend to agree with Mauresmo’s decision, with several saying they believe the ranking system should remain as it currently is (Wimbledon used to rank players according to their grass court results, but has strictly followed the rankings since 2021). “The way seedings work, I think it’s appropriate. In this case, it’s unfortunate how this happened, but I don’t know how to judge where someone should or shouldn’t be placed based on past or previous success,” said three-time major champion Andy Murray. “It would be very difficult to do that.”
He is a leading player in men’s tennis, coming off a clay-court title at the Italian Open, winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and finishing runner-up at the US Open in 2020. He reached the semi-finals of the US Open. France in each of the last three years, including in 2022 when they faced Nadal at that stage but had to stop after tearing ligaments in their right foot during the match. Zverev, a 27-year-old German, is about to face court proceedings beginning next week in Berlin in connection with allegations of physical abuse of an ex-girlfriend. He doesn’t need to be in court and said he won’t be. “At the end of the day, I believe in the German system. I also believe in the truth. I have to make sure that, you know, I know what I did, I know what I didn’t do,” Zverev said. “That’s ultimately what’s going to come out, and I have confidence in that.”
Mauresmo was asked on Sunday about Zverev’s situation and replied: “As long as the trial is not over and there is no decision, he is considered innocent and that is why he can participate in the draw.”
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Howard Fendrich has been an AP tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich
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