ROME: Rafa Nadal has raised doubts about his participation in the Tokyo Games, saying on Tuesday that he has to be flexible and cannot give a clear answer until he organises his schedule for the year.

Nadal, who won a singles gold in Beijing 2008 and added a doubles title in Rio de Janeiro eight years later partnering Marc Lopez, said that he is yet to firm up his plans on travelling to Tokyo.

“I don’t know yet. Honestly I can’t give you a clear answer because I don’t know. I don’t know my calendar,” Nadal told a news conference at the Rome Masters. “In a normal world I’ll never think about missing Olympics. There’s no doubt about that. Everybody knows how important it has been for me to always play in the Olympics.

“Under these circumstances, I don’t know. Let’s see what’s going on in the next couple of months. I need to organise my schedule... In a normal year, I know my schedule almost 100% from Jan. 1 until the end of the season.

“This year is a bit different, no? We need to be flexible. We need to adapt about things that are happening,” Nadal said.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2021