Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal announces he is pulling out of the French Open because of an injury to his left wrist during a press conference at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Friday May 27, 2016.
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The other men with 50 victories at the French Open – Nadal, Federer, Guillermo Vilas, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi and Nicola Pietrangeli -all won at least one title at the clay-court tournament.
Murray, a three-time semi-finalist, had needed two five-set matches and three days of play to get to the last 32.
He said the problem is with the tendon sheath in his wrist and was told that there is no way he could be given five more painkilling injections – one before each possible match, were he to make it all the way to the final – over the next 10 days.
“Nine times in my career I have been able to be healthy here in Paris and win this tournament”.
“For him to actually withdraw from the tournament at this stage where he has already started to play, we know it’s a very painful decision”, Forget said.
He also missed the 2012 London Games because of injury.Nadal said, however, that he hoped he would be fit to play at Wimbledon next month.
“This is a tough moment, but it s not the end”, said Nadal, who won the first of his nine French Opens as a 19-year-old in 2005.
With Nadal’s withdrawal, his would-be opponent Marcel Granollers received a walkover into the fourth round.
It cleared one potential obstacle from the path of No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who is attempting to win a fourth consecutive major title and his first in Paris – and could have faced Nadal in the semifinals.
Nadal and Djokovic were seeded to meet in the semi-finals next Friday – the date of the Spaniard s 30th birthday.
However, the Serbian 14th seed’s form has nosedived over the past 12 months and she has since failed to progress past the third round of the subsequent four major tournaments.
Murray will next face either American 15th seed John Isner, another big server, or Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili.
“At the end it was very close. When you add all of those things together in your late 20s and early 30s, you’re going to start to feel it. Rafa is starting to feel it”.
Also advancing was Andy Murray, who cut down Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic.
Today, Dominic Thiem prevailed in a duel of rising tennis stars, downing teenager Alexander Zverev 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Raonic, a quarterfinalist in 2014, next faces 55th-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas after the Spaniard stunned American 23rd seed Jack Sock 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Both Federer and Nadal were compelled to pull out of the tournament due to injuries.
Muguruza, a quarter-finalist in the last two years, next faces unsafe 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova who beat Russian Fed Cup teammate Anastasia Pavlychenkova 6-1, 6-4.
The fourth-seeded Muguruza of Spain beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-3, 6-0, while Halep had a tougher time against Japanese teen Naomi Osaka. But two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova lost to Shelby Rogers 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-0.
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Third seed Angelique Kerber, fifth-seeded Victoria Azarenka and Roberta Vinci, the seventh seed, all flopped in the first round.
