Rafael Nadal’s 2023 season is likely over.
The 22-time major champion has undergone left hip flexor surgery and expects to be out of motion for at the least five months, according to his spokesman Benito Perez-Barbadillo.
He still hasn’t competed professionally since January’s Australian Open when he lost to Mackie McDonald within the second round.
“Rafa will begin his progressive functional rehabilitation in a couple of hours, and the traditional recovery process is estimated at five months, all the time bearing in mind the biological time of said structure,” Perez-Barbadillo said. according to ESPN.
The Spaniard said last month he would likely end his profession in 2024.
“You possibly can’t keep demanding increasingly more out of your body because there comes some extent where your body raises the white flag,” Nadal said during a press conference on May 18.
“Even in case your head wants to go on, your body says that is it.”
Nadal’s 22 major titles are tied to Novak Djokovic for many of men’s tennis history.
Djokovic could overtake Nadal on the all-time important list by winning the French Open next weekend.
Nadal has won a complete of 92 trophies, winning over 1,000 matches at tournament level.
Nadal was eliminated from the French Open last month, just 10 days before the beginning of the competition, due to a hip injury.
He continued to compete in 18 straight French Opens, including a record 14 titles at Roland Garros.
“You never know the way things will prove,” said Nadal, “but my intention is for next yr to be my last.”