Rafael Nadal was at the centre of epic scenes at the Italian Open as he said goodbye to the Rome crowd for the final time.
The King of Clay exited the tournament on Saturday night in sad scenes, falling to Hubert Hurkacz 6-1, 6-3 in the second round.
If that wasn’t enough for pained Nadal fans, the Spaniard said after the match he could not guarantee he will be fit to play the French Open, which begins on May 26.
Nadal had previously said that he would only play at the French Open, where he has won a record 14 titles, if he feels competitive after a raft of injury problems over the last two years which have left him languishing 305th in the world rankings.
Nadal determined for French farewell | 01:13
The manner of his loss to Hurkacz has further clouded the question everyone wants to know — will he be playing at Roland Garros?
“The decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my mind today. But if I have to say what’s my feeling and if my mind is closer one way or the other way, I am going to say to be in Roland Garros and try my best,” Nadal told reporters.
“Physically I have some issues, but not probably yet enough to say I’m not playing in the most important event of my tennis career. Let’s see what’s going on, how I feel myself mentally tomorrow, after tomorrow, and in one week.”
Tennis commentators said it was “tough” to see Nadal struggle so much on a surface where he has enjoyed unprecedented success.
Aussie tennis great Paul McNamee wrote: “Oh Rafa… it’s hard to watch a shadow of yourself, especially on clay.
“It’s a massive ask to be able to turn it round in the next two weeks, but we would love to see you, if it’s the real you, for one last time, at Roland Garros. Good luck.”
Leading tennis journalist Jose Morgado wrote on Twitter: “Nadal lacking level, tough to watch but not too surprising”.
There were ludicrous scenes in Rome as he walked off the court to loud applause.
Thousands of fans gathered underneath the tournament’s famous foot bridge to catch one last glimpse of the 22-time grand slam champ.
Morgado wrote simple, “Wow” when video of the scene first emerged.
Nadal held his own in the first two games in the first set, which took 26 minutes to complete, but then quickly fell away, Hurkacz winning without dropping a service game and seemingly without breaking a sweat.
That level of dominance over Nadal on clay, much less a court where he has won a record 10 titles, would have been unimaginable a few short years ago.
Hurkacz will face Tomas Etcheverry in the third round after likely ending Nadal’s love affair with Rome as the 22-time Grand Slam winner said that he was “98 per cent” sure that he would never again grace the Roman clay.
“No-one will ever have a record like him on this surface. He’s just bigger than the sport at the end of the day,” said Hurkacz.
Elsewhere, Second seed Daniil Medvedev kicked off his title defence by beating Jack Draper in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 to set up a third-round clash with qualifier Hamad Medjedovic, while Stefanos Tsitsipas came back from a set down to beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-4.
Russian fourth seed Andrey Rublev, the champion on clay in Madrid last week, also needed a fightback to see off 49th-ranked Marcos Giron of the United States 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
World number one Djokovic donned a cycling crash helmet on his way to practice to show that he was fit and ready to face Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo on Sunday afternoon.
Djokovic was left crouching in agony after being accidentally hit on the head by a hard water bottle while signing fan autographs on Friday night.
But he suffered only minor injuries, and on Saturday he joked “Today I came prepared” with a video of him arriving while wearing the helmet.