"Goodbye Paris, see you for Roland Garros" - Rafael Nadal sends hopeful message amidst retirement speculation 

Rafael Nadal surprised tennis fans all around the world as he made it clear that he will be back for Roland Garros next year. While rumors stated that he might retire at the end of the year, the 22-time Grand Slam winner conveyed through social media that he would be back in action in France for Roland Garros.

The Spaniard made a first-round exit at the Paris Masters on Wednesday. After the defeat, he stated that he will see the fans in Paris again when he returns for Roland Garros next year, which is set to take place in May 2023.

He took to Instagram and wrote:

"Goodbye Paris, see you in May for Roland Garros."

Screenshot of the Spaniard's Instagram story.

The 36-year-old suffered a shocking loss in his opening match at the Paris Masters against World No. 31 Tommy Paul. Nadal won the first set and his misguided shots were hard for Tommy to judge at the beginning.

Though the Mallorcan appeared comfortable heading into the second set, things gradually started to drift away as Paul played his heart out and got to the end of every return shot from his opponent. He eventually won the second set via a tie-break and took the last set in just seven games to register a memorable win

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"I hope to be there and I'm excited about playing" - Rafael Nadal on ATP Finals

Rafael Nadal in action at the 2022 Paris Masters.

Rafael Nadal hopes to come back stronger and perform better in Turin for the last event of the season, the ATP Finals. After his Paris Masters defeat, get stated that he hopes to be in Turin for the event and said that he was excited about playing in the year-end championship.

"I hope to be there. I'm excited about playing, even if haven't been the perfect in the last couple of months, of course. But, yeah, nothing to lose. After a good year, going there, just trying my best," he said.

Nadal stated that he wants to enjoy participating in the ATP Finals as it might well be his last appearance in the competition.

"Just give myself a chance to enjoy another World Tour Finals, no? You never know when it is going to be the last, especially at my age. So I am going to give my best to enjoy this one," he asserted.