Rafael Nadal confirms he will skip Wimbledon 2024 and has played his last grass court grand slam

Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal will miss Wimbledon 2024, and stick with clay courts in his preparation for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The two-time Olympic champion will miss the grass court season. He had previously said this year would be his last on tour, but in recent months has suggested he may continue into 2025 if healthy.

Nadal will instead play at the Nordea Open in Båstad, Sweden in the weeks before the Paris 2024 Games in July, which will be played on the clay courts of the Stade Roland-Garros.

In a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter), Nadal said, “It was announced yesterday [Wednesday] that I will play at the summer Olympics in Paris, my last Olympics. With this goal, we believe that the best for my body is not to change surface and keep playing on clay until then.

“It’s for this reason that I will miss playing at the Championships this year at Wimbledon. I am saddened not to be able to live this year the great atmosphere of that amazing event that will always be in my heart, and be with all the British fans that always gave me great support. I will miss you all.”

Nadal will team up with fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s doubles competition at the Games, with the eagerly anticipated duo as part of their five-man squad announced on Wednesday.

He will aim to reclaim the men’s doubles title he won at Rio 2016, while 21-year-old Alcaraz will make his Olympics debut at the venue at which he won his most recent Grand Slam, the French Open, last week.

Nadal will also play in the men’s singles competition, in which he won his first gold at Beijing 2008. Paris 2024 will be Nadal’s fourth and final Olympic Games, having made his Olympic debut 20 years ago in Athens.