Goodbye Rafael Nadal (probably), Andy Murray's French Open decision and a look back at the Italian Open

Rafael Nadal has announced that he will miss the French Open through injury and will spend several months away from the tennis court. Nadal wants to give his hip as much time as possible to heal because 2024 will probably be his last season. He said: “I’m going to try to make my last year not just a party, I'm going to try to compete at the highest level, give myself the option to try to compete and win tournaments on this clay tour. The reality is that we'll have to wait for that." Will he realistically be able to make a meaningful comeback or will this be a farewell world tour? ***** LISTENER QUESTION: Tino from Hamburg asks "how are players like Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev able to recover from those severe injuries and potentially get back to the top, given that they face stronger opponents in the first rounds of bigger tournaments, are used to continuous success (and a place within the top 10), still lack physical strength and even lack of trust in their bodies?". ***** Elena Rybakina benefits from not one, not two but three walkovers en route to the Italian Open title, where her final started after 11pm local time, the crowd booed her and they forgot to present her with the trophy. But she moves to No 4 in the world and further into contention for the French Open title, where Iga Swiatek faces a race against time to be fit after suffering a thigh injury in Rome. "A couple of days off for sure. And booking my flight to Paris, so fingers crossed, please," Swiatek wrote on social media. ***** Daniil Medvedev cemented his status as a clay-court threat and a shithouse of the highest order as he won the Italian Open. First he produced some abysmal dance moves to mock Stefanos Tsitsipas's own dance from a previous encounter, and then outplayed a fatigued Holger Rune to win in Rome. “I always want to believe in myself and I always try to do my best I want to win the biggest tournaments in the world. But in the same time honestly I didn’t really believe much I can win a Masters 1000 on clay in my career because usually I hated it,” Medvedev said afterwards. “I don’t think I love it. I love hard court. My only love… in tennis! But I definitely like clay courts much more now.” ***** Andy Murray has pulled out of the French Open to concentrate on the grass after failing to win a tour-level match on clay. He did win a Challenger title - and will return to the Challenger Tour in Surbiton instead of playing at Roland Garros. Is it the right decision? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices