"I can return" - Nadal walks back retirement hint at Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal has walked back on suggestions that this could be his last year competing at the French Open which he hinted at a few days ago.

Nadal said before his epic quarter-final win against Novak Djokovic that his tennis future was “super difficult” owing to a chronic foot injury. This led to suggestions that the 21-time Grand Slam winner could be competing at Roland-Garros for a final time. He toned that down a little bit expecting to return next year:

"I am confident and I trust I can return [to Roland-Garros]. I accept things as they come, I have no intention of making it seem like a farewell. We keep working to find a solution to my foot injury. My intention is to return to Roland-Garros next year."

Nadal previously said:

"I am old enough to not hide things or come here to say a thing that I don't believe. I don't know what can happen. I think, as I said before, I'm going to be playing this tournament because we are doing the things to be ready to play this tournament, but I don't know what's going to happen after here. I have what I have in the foot, so if we are not able to find an improvement or small solution to that, then it's becoming super difficult for me. So that's it.

He continued:

"I am just enjoying every day that I have the chance to be here, and without thinking much about what can happen in the future. Of course, I'm going to keep fighting to find a solution, but for the moment we haven't [got one]. So just giving myself a chance to play another semi-final here at Roland-Garros is a lot of energy for me."