Rafael Nadal is on the final entry list for the Rio Olympics.
The 14-time major champion hasn’t played since pulling out of the French Open because of an injured left wrist and needed the International Tennis Federation’s Olympic Committee to approve his appeal because he hasn’t played Davis Cup.
Nadal won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.
While there were no surprises on the list released Friday by the ITF, Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic later announced that he was pulling out of the Olympics. In a statement, the seventh-ranked Canadian said that “I am making this decision for a variety of health concerns including the uncertainty around the Zika virus.’’
Still, unlike golf, nearly all the world’s top tennis players plan to go to Rio next month.
A handful of top-30 men had pulled out of the Rio Games; they mostly cited tennis reasons and not Zika. But the Big Four of Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer are all on the list _ for both singles and doubles.
