Rafael Nadal says he is not sure he will be able to play at next month’s French Open after pushing through the pain barrier in his comeback from injury. The 37-year-old, a 22-time grand slam champion, said that he is far from top form and is only playing against American teenager Darwin Blanch in the first round of the Madrid Open on Thursday as a personal sacrifice. “If I was in Paris today, I wouldn’t go out to play,” Nadal told a press conference on Wednesday, referring to Roland Garros.
The gruelling contest appeared to take its toll on the Spaniard who, trailing 1-4 in the final set, took a medical timeout to get treatment on his upper-left leg. He then did not play an ATP event until making a winning return last week in Barcelona, with a first round victory over Flavio Cobolli, only to fall a day later in a 7-5 6-1 second round defeat by Australian fourth seed Alex de Minaur. Nadal is due to play de Minaur again in Madrid should he beat 16-year-old Blanch in the first round.
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