Rafa to miss Wimbledon

London, June 13

Rafael Nadal is going to skip Wimbledon, as expected, and instead prepare for the Paris Olympics by entering a claycourt tournament in Bastad, Sweden, he hasn’t been to in 19 years.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who turned 38 on June 3, said today he wants to just remain on clay, rather than switching over to grass for the All England Club, then needing to go back to clay for the Summer Games.

“We believe that the best for my body is not to change surface,” Nadal said in a statement.

After his early exit against Alexander Zverev in Paris, Nadal was asked about participating at Wimbledon, which runs from July 1-14.

“Looks difficult, honestly. For me, now, I can’t confirm what’s going on, but it looks difficult to make a transition to grass, having the Olympics again on clay,” he said. — AP