Legend Nadal feared career-ending foot pain every year
Rafael Nadal reveals he feared chronic foot injury would end his career early
New Delhi: The 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal has detailed the immense physical sacrifice behind one of tennis’s most decorated careers, confessing that he constantly feared each season would be his last as he battled a chronic foot condition.
The retired Spanish icon, who was part of the game’s legendary ‘Big Three’ alongside Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, discussed his difficult sacrifices in the quest to reach the pinnacle of his sport following the release of the Netflix series ‘Rafa’, which examines the physical and mental challenges of his professional career.
“I’ve had to make decisions about my health, where you are on the borderline between right or wrong,” the 39-year-old admitted to the BBC. “But if I hadn’t explored all that, I probably would have had 10 fewer Grand Slams… This is the reality.”
Nadal was first diagnosed with the rare Müller-Weiss syndrome just two months before clinching his first French Open crown at age 19. He sustained a bone injury during the 2005 Madrid Open final, leading to the discovery of this rare illness. Partially attributed to the intense physical training of his childhood with his uncle Toni Nadal, the condition immediately jeopardized his career.
Instead of accepting that the chronic condition meant his career was over, Nadal proceeded to rack up a remarkable 13 additional Grand Slams over the following nine years. In doing so, he secured at least one Grand Slam trophy per season, cementing his status as the greatest clay-court player in history.
But on the inside, the trophies and celebrations hid continuous doubts about what the future held.
“Tennis became a race against time,” Nadal confessed to the BBC. “Always doubting in my head about how long I can last with this foot. I never knew how long my career would last.”
“I always thought, maybe it’s the last year, so there’s no time to stop.”
The continuous physical effort of competing at the highest level also led to two other serious health problems: recurring tendinitis in his left knee and intestinal perforations caused by the excessive use of painkillers.
During some matches, Nadal had no choice but to rely on specifically administered anesthetic injections just to make it onto the court. He readily admitted that during his victory at the 2022 French Open—his final Grand Slam title—he played with a leg in which he had almost no feeling at all.
However, his burning passion to win outweighed the pain. “The key was that the suffering was less than my passion and my happiness for what I was doing,” the retired tennis ace explained.
