Nadal's absence from the 2025 French Open changes the tournament

As the French Open enters a new, post-Rafa, era this year, there are a couple of prevailing sentiments among tennis players.

- AGENCIES

One is: It's a shame the world won't get to see the King of Clay, as Rafael Nadal came to be called, ply his unique brand of topspin-heavy relentlessness on the crushed red brick of Roland Garros, where he won a record 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles.

The other, expressed by men who would love to get a chance at carving their own bit of history at the place, goes like this: Whew, it sure will be nice not to have that guy looming in the bracket now that the 38-year-old Spaniard is retired.

"Luckily — or unluckily — I never got to play him in Roland-Garros," said American Tommy Paul, a 2023 Australian Open semifinalist currently ranked 12th.

"It's nice to not have to worry about him, I guess," Paul added with a laugh. "That's the main thing that comes to my mind."

Players repeatedly used the word "different" to describe what it'll be like without Nadal around.

"It'll be strange for the fans, above all," said top-10 player Lorenzo Musetti, an Italian who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and earned an Olympic bronze medal in 2024. "But the history he made in Paris will never be forgotten."