"If he does well at Roland-Garros, he's done well for the year": Mouratoglou believes all roads still lead to Roland Garros for Nadal

Patrick Mouratoglou believes that Rafael Nadal will be fine if he returns in time for Roland Garros and does well at the event because that has always been the goal.

Rafael Nadal has not played much tennis this year due to a hip injury he sustained in Melbourne earlier. For noted coach Patrick Mouratoglou it doesn't matter much because Nadal's goal always was Roland Garros. Anything he does outside of that event is simply a bonus but the main goal was always to win Roland Garros.

He was discussing Nadal's 2023 Roland Garros prospects:

"I think his goal is still Roland-Garros, which is why he's been preparing on clay for a long time. He'll be in shape tennis-wise. Will he be physically fit? I can't say, it will depend on how he manages his injuries. He'll have to have a few matches, but I'm not really worried about him. He will be ready for Roland-Garros. The rest of the year is something else... If he does well at Roland-Garros, he's done well for the year and he often plays pretty well on hard courts."

According to Mouratoglou, there is very little chance that Nadal would miss the event and he's not worried about the lack of playing time. The Spaniard is probably simply taking a conservative approach to be fully ready for Roland Garros.