“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 suffered the first diagnosis of the rare Muller-Weiss syndrome just two months before clinching his first French Open crown at just 19. He sustained a broken bone during the 2005 Madrid Open final, which was a rare illness that is partially attributed to the intense physical training of his childhood with his uncle Toni Nadal, immediately jeopardising his health.
Instead of accepting that the chronic condition meant that his career was over, Nadal proceeded to rack up a remarkable 13 additional Grand Slams over the course of nine years, and in doing so, he secured no less than one Grand Slam trophy a season, cementing his status as the greatest clay court player to ever play the game.
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 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 continued physical effort of competing at the very highest level also led to two serious health problems: a 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 anaesthetic injections just to make it on court, and he readily admitted that his victory in the 2022 French Open – his final career Grand Slam victory – saw him playing with a leg that he had almost no feeling in at all.
However, the burning passion to win outweighs any 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.
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