Ever since his comeback earlier this year, there has been much talk surrounding the retirement of Rafael Nadal. While he did return to the court, his comeback lasted for just one tournament as the Spaniard suffered another injury setback. This ruled him out of the Australian Open, a tournament he was hoping to play. In what could be the final year of his illustrious career, Nadal’s influence has helped the French Open break a historic record.

Rafael Nadal is the most successful player in the tournament. Dubbed the ‘King of Clay,’ he has lifted 14 Roland Garros titles. Let’s find out which record was broken in Paris.

Excitement surrounds the French Open

The clay season will begin in a few weeks. The second Grand Slam tournament of the season, the French Open, will start on 26th May. With various reports suggesting that the 2024 French Open will be Nadal’s final appearance at this major, there has been much excitement to watch Nadal for one last time for the fans there.

As a result, the French Open general ticket queue exceeded 700,000 today. This is a mind-boggling figure, with fans wanting to catch a glimpse of Nadal at any cost. Moreover, with Nadal’s past success at the tournament, many fans are hoping that he digs deep this time around as well and they can watch him in action live inside the stadium.

While Nadal did come back to play in the Netflix Slam, he admitted that he wasn’t fully fit to play in the Indian Wells Masters. As a result, the Spaniard is still out of action, although he is training hard to make a comeback during the clay-court season.

On the other hand, fans will be hoping that injuries stay away from Nadal as time is running out for him in his career. A few weeks back, he dropped a sensational update regarding his retirement.

What did Rafael Nadal say about his retirement?

Earlier this year, Nadal appeared in an interview in COPE’s El Partidazo. During that discussion, he opened up about the longevity of his career and his retirement plans.

Nadal revealed, “This is going to be my last year but I don’t confirm it 100%. I will go day by day. I’ll say it before Roland Garros. I give myself a few months of caution. You know that things can happen, so I can’t define things months in advance after a year without competing.” (Translated using Google Translate)

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