By CNN
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Rafael Nadal says he will miss this year’s Wimbledon, opting to skip the grass court grand slam to focus on preparing for the Paris Olympics.
Tennis at this year’s Olympics will take place on the clay at Roland Garros, where Nadal has won the French Open a record 14 times.
The 38-year-old lost in the opening round of this year’s French Open to No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany. Zverev went on to finish runner-up in the grand slam event, losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
To prepare for the Olympics, Nadal plans to play in the Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden, an ATP 250 clay court tournament which will be held from July 15-21.
Announcing his decision on social media, Nadal confirmed this will also be his final Olympic Games.
“During my post match press conference at Roland Garros I was asked about my summer calendar and since then I have been practicing on clay,” Nadal said Thursday.
“It was announced yesterday that I will play at the summer Olympics in Paris, my last Olympics.
“With this goal, we believe that the best for my body is not to change surface and keep playing on clay until then. It’s for this reason that I will miss playing at the Championships this year at Wimbledon.
“I am saddened not to be able to live this year the great atmosphere of that amazing event that will always be in my heart, and be with all the British fans that always gave me great support. I will miss you all.”
On Wednesday, it was announced that Nadal plans to join forces with fellow Spaniard Alcaraz in men’s doubles at the Olympics.
Nadal is the only active male player to have won a gold medal in singles and doubles having won singles gold in 2008 and doubles gold in 2016 with Marc López.
