Tennis News: Nadal currently on track to play at Wimbledon as pursuit of Calendar Year Slam continues

By Ricky Dimon

The calendar year Grand Slam watch is on.

Rafael Nadal, who had already won the Australian Open and the French Open this season, announced on Friday that his chronic foot injury was in good enough condition to allow him to try his luck at Wimbledon. However, this is not a guarantee.

“[The medical treatment] done in Barcelona is not a 100% immediate thing, but changes are noticeable,” Nadal said during a press conference in Mallorca. “I noticed them, weird sensations, my joint pains went down. My intention is to play Wimbledon, to travel to London on Monday.

“My foot situation has to be assessed day by day, so at the moment I don’t have that certainty that I can play. I just know that I want to play the tournament, but you also have to be careful. The first few days I had complicated feelings, day by day I was getting better. Another week of training in London and I hope I can play Wimbledon and be competitive.

Nadal recently won a 14th Roland Garros while receiving various injections between games, essentially playing with his “asleep” foot. The 36-year-old Spaniard has insisted he doesn’t want to start at Wimbledon again, only playing the third major tournament of 2022 if the current treatment plan is successful.

It’s the first time Nadal has won in both Melbourne and Paris to put him halfway to a calendar year Grand Slam. His first Australian Open triumph came in 2009 and it was the first year he lost at Roland Garros (to Robin Soderling in the fourth round). He continued his success in 2022 Down Under by beating Felix Auger-Aliassime, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev (by retirement) and Casper Ruud in his last four French Open appearances. Now on to Wimbledon, where the 22-time Grand Slam winner has won the trophy twice (2008 and 2010).

Djokovic won the first three majors of 2021 and came within a calendar year Grand Slam win, but lost to Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final. It would have been the first CYGS for men since 1969 (Rod Laver).

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also runs its own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.