Nadal, Osaka out Both for Wimbledon; she Will Visit Olympics

Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka are hanging outside Wimbledon, leaving the earliest Grand Slam tennis championship with no two of the game's greatest stars as it yields later being canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nadal, Osaka out Both for Wimbledon; she Will Visit Olympics

Nadal, a two-time winner at the All England Club, declared via a set of social networking articles Thursday he would miss the Tokyo Olympics to recover and rest"after listening to my body"

"The aim," that the 35-year-old Spaniard explained,"would be to lengthen my career and continue to do what makes me happy"

Osaka's representative, Stuart Duguid, said Thursday in an email the four-time Grand Slam winner does plan to go into the Summer Games after bypassing Wimbledon.

"She's taking some private time together with family and friends," Duguid wrote.

Osaka has been rated No. 1 and is now No. 2; she's the highest-earning female athlete also has been the most 2020 AP Female Athlete of the Year. She's 14-3 this year, including a name in the Australian Open in February.

Last month, Osaka was fined $15,000 when she did not talk to reporters following her first-round success in the French Open. The following day, Osaka pulled from this championship entirely, stating she encounters"enormous waves of fear" before meeting with the media and showing that she has"suffered long bouts of melancholy."

In a statement published on Twitter in the moment, she stated she'd"take a while off in the courtroom today, but if the timing is right I really need to work together with the Tour to go over ways we could make things easier for the players, fans and press."

Osaka has performed at Wimbledon three occasions, double leaving from the next round and dropping at the first round in 2019.

Still another Grand Slam title winner, 2020 U.S. Open winner Dominic Thiem, tweeted Thursday that that he won't visit the Olympics, stating:"I really don't feel prepared to play with my best at Tokyo."

Wimbledon, that was called off in 2020 for the first time since World War II due to COVID-19 concerns, starts main-draw play June 28. The Olympic tennis contest opens on July 24.