Get used to life without Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer

2:14 PM ET

PARIS — When the scratchy announcement came over the media center intercom at Roland Garros Friday afternoon that Rafael Nadal had just called a news conference without warning, folks looked at each other and sighed. It had to mean bad news was coming.

And it was. The future of men’s tennis snapped into a sadder focus with Nadal’s sudden decision to withdraw because of a tendon injury in his left wrist.

It was hard to resist thinking this: Get used to life without Nadal and Roger Federer lurking in the draw of every major tournament.

Hard to believe, but Rafael Nadal will go back-to-back seasons without a French Open title for the first time in his career. Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images

The greatest era the men’s game has ever known unmistakably feels like it’s continuing on its slow, inexorable glide down.

Injuries — not waning desire — bounced the 34-year-old Federer out of the French Open the Thursday before the even tournament started, snapping his streak of 65 straight Grand Slam majors played.

Now Nadal revealed that an inflamed tendon sheath in his left wrist — which first started bothering him during tournaments in Madrid and Rome — had become so sore again after two matches here in Paris, that he couldn’t hit a forehand anymore.

Nadal’s doctors took more MRIs and finally told the Spanish lefthander that he …

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