Rafael Nadal Plans To Play Wimbledon As He Seeks 3rd Leg Of Calendar Grand Slam

After winning the first two legs of the Grand Slam for the first time in his career, Rafael Nadal plans to play Wimbledon where he hopes to capture his third straight major of 2022.

“I have not felt so much pain this week,” Nadal, speaking at a press conference in Mallorca, Spain, said of his chronic foot injury. “My intention is to try to play at Wimbledon. This week here tells me there is a chance I can play.”

Wimbledon begins June 27. Nadal, 36, said he plans to travel to London on Monday and play at the Tennis Classic at Hurlingham next week and “do a week of training to see if it’s possible.”

“I wouldn’t go if I didn’t think I could play,” he said. He added the plan is to “play Wimbledon, rest, then Canada and then the U.S. Open.”

Nadal has never before won the Australian Open and the French Open to start a season, and is now in position to win the first calendar Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969. Novak Djokovic came up one match short of the calendar Grand Slam in 2021 before losing to Daniil Medvedev in the U.S. Open final.

Of Nadal’s 22 major titles, only two have come at Wimbledon (2008, ‘10).

Nadal also confirmed that he will join Djokovic and Roger Federer as fathers later this year. He and his wife, Mery Perelló, are expecting.

“If all goes well, I’m going to be a father,” he said. “I’m not used to talking about my personal life, prefer to keep a low-profile. I don’t anticipate this meaning a change to my professional life.”

After winning his 14th French Open and 22nd Grand Slam title June 5, Nadal said he planned to have radiofrequency ablation – which uses heat on the nerve to quell long-term pain – but would have to consider surgery if that treatment did not work. The tennis legend suffers from Mueller-Weiss syndrome – a rare degenerative condition that affects bones in the feet. He said he played through the French Open because he received multiple anaesthetic injections during the tournament.

“I have been playing with injections on the nerves to numb the foot and that’s why I was able to play during these two weeks,” he said.

Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and former coach, recently indicated the ablation treatments were going well and his nephew planned to play Wimbledon.

“When we talked yesterday, he said it’s going much better,” Toni said last week. “He wants to train. If he has a small chance, he will play Wimbledon.”

Wimbledon will be missing a number of top names, including Alexander Zverev, who had surgery after tearing ligaments in his right ankle during his semifinal with Nadal; Russian stars Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who are banned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and Federer, who hopes to still play the tournament at least one more time in 2023.