The Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal‘s probable last dance at Roland Garros 2024 received an interesting twist. The 14-time French Open champion couldn’t hold his ground against his opponent in the first round. Despite his loss in a tournament that Nadal calls “Magic“, his admirers including Novak Djokovic are still not ready to accept the Mallorcan’s ignominious exit. Calling him “a bit unlucky with the draw”,  the Serbinator came up with an interesting take on the Spaniard’s French Open campaign.

The Tennis Letter shared Djokovic’s response from the Roland Garros press conference ahead of his match on their official X account. The Serb was asked to share his thoughts on whether Nadal will play in next year’s French Open. Moreover, the interviewer also wished to know what Djokovic felt about Nadal’s performance against Zverev compared to his other performances this year.

Djokovic stated, “Yeah, it looks like it. I think he played very well comparing to what we saw from his performance in — where was it? — in Rome and where he played in Barcelona, I think he played really on a much higher level. Even though he lost in straight sets, second and third were really close. He could have easily won one of those two sets, and maybe the match was going in a different direction. But he was a bit unlucky with the draw, because Zverev, he is in a great form, winning Rome, and he was serving extremely well. It’s tough to play Sascha when he’s feeling the ball so well”-

Here the 24-time Grand Slam champion referred to Nadal’s Barcelona Open tour in April. The ‘King of Clay’ defeated Italy’s Flavio Cobolli  6-2 and 6-3 in the round of 64. However, in round of 32, Nadal lost to Alex de Minaur by 5-7 and 1-6. Djokovic also talked about Nadal’s Italian Open performance. Nadal won the round of 128 against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 4-6, 6-3, and 6-4. However, in the round of 64, the Spanish tennis legend lost to Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets. Nadal also had an average performance in Madrid as he reached the round of 16 against Jiri Lehecka and again lost in straight sets.

On the other hand, Nadal’s opponent Alexander Zverev recently won the Italian Open, defeating Nicolas Jarry in the finals. He is in red-hot form. Meanwhile, Nadal has not been the same since his hip injury in 2022.

While the tennis fraternity watched Nadal take an exit from his favorite hunting ground with a heavy heart, they were instantly delighted to hear that the Spaniard might consider coming back to participate in the French Open next year.

Rafael Nadal says “sorry” as he can’t “100%” predict this Roland Garros tour as his career’s last

Nadal himself revealed that he is not 100% sure about playing his favorite tournament for the last time this year. “It’s a big, big chance that it’s going to be my last Roland Garros, But if I have to tell you it’s 100% my last Roland Garros? Sorry, but I will not. Because I cannot predict what’s going on.” – said Nadal.

Roland Garros’s tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said– “As you can imagine, we had something planned for him, but he said [Saturday] — he told us actually before yesterday — that he doesn’t know if it’s gonna be his last Roland Garros or not, He wants to leave the door open for him maybe to come back next year as a player. So we’re not going to push him to do anything. It’s his decision when he wants to have a proper ceremony or proper goodbye and proper farewell. So we’re not going to do it this year.”

Djokovic was full of praise for Rafa’s performance on Paris’s clay court and was hopeful about Nadal’s comeback next year. Do you think we have seen Nadal’s last performance in the French Open? Or, will he make one last attempt to win the clay-court Grand Slam next year?