Rafael Nadal's uncle, Toni, has confidently claimed that the Spaniard will return to the French Open in 2024. A devastating hip harm dominated him out of this 12 months's event at Roland Garros, which he has received on a staggering 14 prior events.

Having been out of motion for the reason that hip subject compelled him to withdraw from the Australian Open earlier this 12 months, Nadal just lately known as a press convention to let followers know that he has not recovered in time to compete on the forthcoming clay-court main.

The 22-time Grand Slam winner additionally recommended that subsequent season shall be his final as he continues to grapple with harm points. "It’s disappointing that he can’t be here because this is the only tournament he never missed since the start of his career," Toni Nadal advised Tennis Majors.

"Look, it was bad luck that he wasn’t able to recover in time, but OK – it’s a shame, but life goes on."

Nadal's uncle, who coaches the number-ten-ranked males's participant on this planet Felix Auger-Aliassime, was extra constructive about his nephew's possibilities of returning to the French Open in 12 months' time.

When requested whether or not he may see it taking place, the 62-year-old responded: "Yes! I believe because I want to believe. I know that it’s getting harder to win with every year passing by, but I always believe that things will work out well."

Having put collectively an unbelievable streak over the course of his profession, Nadal has solely ever misplaced three matches at Roland Garros since profitable the title on his event debut in 2005. As time and accidents have taken their toll, the 36-year-old has needed to construct up a psychological resilience maybe past that of anybody else on tour.

"I think all the great players are very strong mentally," added his uncle Toni. "If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be able to achieve what they did. Rafael is strong, [Novak] Djokovic is strong, [Roger] Federer is strong.

"With Rafa, he was taught from a really early age to play each level as if it was a remaining. That helped him change into mentally actually sturdy."

Nadal's withdrawal from the French Open has left the door ajar for Djokovic to seal his twenty third Grand Slam title, which might catapult him to the highest of the all-time charts forward of his 'Big Three' rivals. The Serb faces Aleksandar Kovacevic within the first spherical on Monday.