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Iga Swiatek wants to see Rafael Nadal compete at the French Open — but not at the expense of his health.
Nadal has missed every tournament since a hip injury contributed to his early exit at the Australian Open back in January. He was initially expected to be out for eight weeks at the most, but things haven't panned out that way.
Having now missed the ongoing Italian Open, Nadal will have no prior clay preparation should he even compete as he is in a race against time to feature at the French Open.
While a lack of preparation hasn't stopped the Spaniard from winning the French Open in the past — last year is a testament to that — he is also a year older and has a history of injury problems.
Women's World No. 1 Swiatak certainly hopes Nadal competes at Roland Garros. At the same time, she doesn't want him to overexert himself or suffer while playing.
“I’m a big Rafa fan. For sure I wish he could play,” Swiatek was quoted as saying on Tennis 365. “But honestly, like, I really, really respect what kind of warrior he is. He’s always trying to push and trying to get better and play better and just trying to compete on the highest level.
“But on the other hand I don’t know how much, like, pain he’s living with. I don’t want to, like, see him suffering a lot. I’m kind of like biased because I would love to see him play, but on the other hand I know if he’s going to really, like, suffer, it’s not going to be so fun to see him like that.”
In the end, like most in the tennis world, Swiatek hopes the 22-time Grand Slam champion is healthy and happy again.
“I just hope he’s going to kind of be healthy and happy,” she added. “That’s like the main goal no matter what happens with tennis.”
The French Open commences May 28 so hopefully, we'll have a positive update on Rafael Nadal in the coming days.