Google News Jim Courier explains what happens now that Rafael Nadal is out of French Open
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 3326
Jim Courier thinks there would have definitely been an intimidation factor present if Rafael Nadal was competing at this year's French Open. Last week, Nadal announced what many feared would happen - he failed to recover from an injury suffered to his psoas muscle and withdrew from the French Open.
Without record 14-time French Open champion Nadal, Courier feels the second Grand Slam tournament of the year is more open. “We don’t know what level Rafa would have been able to bring had he been healthy enough to give it a go, but he is still Rafa, and there’s an intimidation factor that is clear.
Now there’s a little bit of open space," Courier said, via tennis.com.
Courier feels Nadal's absence is making the French Open more open
When Nadal went down with an injury in January, no one really thought his French Open appearance was in doubt.
The day after exiting the Australian Open, Nadal announced he was told by the doctors he would be out of action for six to eight weeks. Nadal, who was initially expected to be able to play in Indian Wells or Miami, ended up missing way more.
In his announcement from last Thursday, Nadal said he did everything he could to play at Roland Garros this year. "I was working as much as possible every single day for the last four months. It has been very difficult months because we were not able to find the solution to the problem that I had in Australia.
Today I'm still in a position that I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards that I need to be [at] to play a Roland-Garros. I am not the guy that is going to be at Roland-Garros and just try to be there and put myself in a position that I don't like to be [in].
My ambition is to try to enjoy next year, which will probably be my last year in professional competition. My motivation is to try to say goodbye to all the important tournaments. 2024 will probably be my last year. I'm not going to set a return date before that. It could be reaching the Davis Cup at the end of 2023," Nadal explained last week.
