Rafael Nadal pulls out of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics

Rafael Nadal has announced he will not be playing at Wimbledon or the Olympic Games this summer in order to protect his body.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who won the last of his two titles at the All England Club in 2010, revealed the news on his Twitter feed.

He wrote: ‘Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision.’ 

 “Hi all, I have decided not to participate in this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It’s never an easy decision to take, but after listening to my body and discussing it with my team, I understand that it is the right decision,” he said on Twitter.

“The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at the maximum level of competition.

‘Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision

The 35-year-old Spanish tennis player won the Wimbledon titles in 2008 and 2010. But last week, Novak Djokovic stopped Nadal’s bid for a 14th French Open title and handed the King of Clay just his third loss in 108 matches at the tournament by coming back to win their thriller of a semifinal 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2.