Only 13 days remain until the start of the 2023 French Open. While there’s no doubting the excitement among tennis fans for the year’s second Grand Slam, there’s also plenty of nervousness. After all, Rafael Nadal, the player who has won the Grand Slam a whopping 14 times, may be forced to watch the tournament unfold from the sidelines. The Spaniard is still struggling to recover from his hip injury.

66-year-old Martina Navratilova, a legend in her own right in tennis, came forward to express her concern regarding Nadal’s situation on Twitter.

For Martina Navratilova, it’s hope and despair at the same time

Rafael Nadal made his French Open debut way back in 2005. Astonishingly, since then, Nadal hasn’t missed a single edition of the Stade Roland Garros showpiece. Unfortunately, age seems to be catching up with the tennis legend. All in all, 2023 may very well be the year that Nadal finally misses out on his favorite Grand Slam.

In her tweet, Navratilova shared a New York Times article titled, ‘Rafael Nadal May Miss the French Open’. The women’s tennis icon wrote, “via @NYTimes- say it ain’t so…!!! Sure hope Rafa can play but it doesn’t look good, no time to prepare even if healthy”.

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For Nadal, who turns 37 later this year, this year’s French Open may well be his last chance to capture a 15th title in Paris. However, if he does indeed have to sit it out, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for him to win another French Open title ever again.

Rafael Nadal Hit With Another Massive Blow After MRI Scan Exposes Grade 2 Injury at the Australian Open 2023

Rafael Nadal has resumed training, but will it be enough?

In 2022, a resurgent Nadal won the first 2 Grand Slams of the year. As a result, Nadal fans started to believe that the ‘King of Clay’ was back to his best. However, at Wimbledon, he suffered an abdominal tear. Since then, almost everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the 22-time Grand Slam winner.

Nadal’s fans were full of optimism at the start of 2023 again as the Spaniard looked to defend his Australian Open crown. Unfortunately, he sustained a hip injury. Initially, the concerns regarding his recovery were minimal. However, in the days and months that followed, it became apparent that Nadal’s problems were much bigger than they were initially made out to be. Nadal recently resumed training. However, most experts think that it’s too little too late for the Spaniard.

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