In a decision that is bound to come as a great surprise to many, Rafael Nadal has decided to pull out from this year's Wimbledon and Olympic Games in Tokyo.
In his words, he took the decision after listening to his body and discussing it with his team. "I understand that it is the right decision," he said.
He also said, "The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at the maximum level of competition."
He pointed out that the short two-week gap between this years' Roland Garros and Wimbledon means that his body will not get enough time to recover after the demanding clay-court season. Nadal was knocked out of the French Open, which he has won a preposterous 13 times, by World no.1 and eventual champion Novak Djokovic in a grueling, epic semi-final match.
Nadal added that he now wants to focus more on his fitness given that he is now a 35-year-old. "Sport prevention of any kind of excess in my body is a very important factor at this stage of my career in order to try to keep fighting for the highest level of competition and titles," he said.
Nadal has always been known to possess a supremely fit body, but recently he has been plagued by a back injury that forced him to pull out from this year's Miami Masters. Nadal was out of action for a long time since his quarter-final defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open, apparently taking his time to recover from the injury. Even in the French Open semi-final against Djokovic, he was looking short of full fitness according to many experts.
His withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics will be a big blow for Spain. He won the Gold medal in singles in the 2008 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Spanish tennis player to do so.
While this decision can leave the sports fans dejected, it is a sign that Nadal will follow the 'pick and choose' method more in the future to preserve his fitness.