Nadal may quit singles and concentrate on doubles due to physical problems in the Games

PARIS – Rafael Nadal may not play singles at the Olympic Games due to physical problems.

According to the Spanish sports website Relevo, the atmosphere in Nadal’s circle “is not exactly optimistic” and plan B is gaining strength: concentrate on the doubles with Carlos Alcaraz and forget about the singles tournament, where the draw determined that he could face Novak Djokovic in the second round.

Nadal’s possible drop in singles is one more chapter in his book of injuries and physical complications: now it is the adductor.

On this sunny Thursday in the French capital, the 14-time Grand Slam champion canceled the training session he had scheduled with Alexander Zverev at the Philippe Chatrier central stadium, and concerns grew.

“I can’t say for sure that Nadal will play,” said his coach Carlos Moyá.

Moyá emphasized the importance of the next two days to find answers. “We want to give him 48 hours to see how he is improving and how he is recovering and well, if everything goes normal and everything goes well, then on Saturday he will jump (to the court),” he told Onda Cero radio.

On Tuesday, in his first training session on the Roland Garros courts, the Spaniard had already evidenced certain complications. “I’m not well”, ‘I have to rest’, were some of the phrases he told his team.

Moya elaborated: “He already rested on Monday, he came from a tough week in Bastad, and on Tuesday we resumed very slowly, very calm, knowing that, well, there was fatigue. Yesterday [Wednesday] was a very good day, both training singles in the morning and doubles in the afternoon, in the afternoon we could already feel that little problem and, well, we decided that the best and most coherent thing to do was to rest, to have treatment at the villa, to rest and give him time to recover”.