French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo says it is hard to imagine the championships taking place without Rafael Nadal.
Nadal, a 14-time champion, has featured in every tournament since 2005 – but has not played since January’s Australian Open because of a hip injury.
Nadal says he finds himself in a “difficult situation” and has already pulled out of next week’s Madrid Open.
“It’s obviously a possibility for him not to be able to be fit to come here to Roland Garros,” Mauresmo said in an interview with BBC Sport on the Philippe Chatrier Court where Nadal beat Casper Ruud in last year’s final.
“But the only thing I know for sure is that if there is one tournament he doesn’t want to miss, it is this one. We are still five weeks away from the main draw. I am still hopeful, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
“It will be hard [to imagine Roland Garros without him]. It would be hard if he doesn’t come, to be honest.
“He’s so much part of the history of the tournament for the last almost 20 years – it would be sad. But I am someone that is positive so I’m going to hope that things are going to get better for him.”
Mauresmo was at Nadal’s academy in Mallorca last month to present the 36-year-old with a replica of his statue, which was unveiled at Roland Garros two years ago.
The statue is three metres tall, and made entirely of steel. But Mauresmo says that will not ultimately be enough to commemorate Nadal’s unprecedented run of success in Paris.
“We have this talk sometimes,” she said.
“The opinions are very different with everyone – I think it would be hard to change the name of this [Philippe Chatrier] court, but, yes, we are having these conversations sometimes.
“We will need to do something to [celebrate] 14: maybe more one day. It is just something that is incredibly crazy, and in the history of sport quite unique.”
Mauresmo also confirmed that, unlike at Wimbledon and other UK tournaments, Russian and Belarusian players will not need to sign a personal declaration of neutrality before being allowed to compete.
“No, I know it’s the case in the UK. Here we are going to do the same as last year, so it’s full neutrality – strict neutrality – so no flag, no anthem if one is winning, no name of the country announced by the speaker and of course no declaration of the player for the war.”
She says that while the tournament and the French Tennis…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at BBC Sport – Tennis…