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Spanish veteran tennis player Rafael Nadal exited what might be his final French Open to a wave of love and support after a first-round defeat by Alexander Zverev, expressing his hope to return to Roland Garros for the Paris 2024 Olympics. "I hope to see you again, but I don't know," Nadal told an ecstatic crowd after his straight-sets loss on Monday. "There's a big percentage that I will not be back here, but I am not 100% sure.

I hope to be back on this court for the Olympics; that motivates me." It will be the third time since his debut at Roland Garros in 2005 that Nadal, whose body has been martyred by 23 years of professional tennis and who left the tournament with a crushed foot after his record-extending 14th title two years ago, does not get to celebrate his June 3 birthday in Paris. The French, who tend to arrive on Court Philippe Chatrier fashionably late on the back of a long lunch, skipped coffee and digestif to fill the arena before the king, racket in hand as usual, stepped onto the court to deafening roars.



Spain's Nadal stuck to his routine, avoiding the lines and crossing them with his right foot, sprinting to the baseline during warmup, and positioning his two bottles diagonally aimed at the court. On a rainy day in Paris, organizers closed the roof, adding to the intimacy of the moment. On a court he knows like no one else, Nadal struggled to find his mark early on, netting a routine drop shot and serving a double fault to give Zverev the opening game.

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