“As I said before, in the current circumstances I cannot and do not want to continue playing”, said the Spanish champion Rafael Nadal, during a press conference after his 14th title at Roland-Garros this Sunday, while suffering from pain in his left foot. He explained that he had undergone injections during the tournament to numb his painful nerves.
Injections to reduce pain
“I can’t continue to play in tournaments with a sleepy foot. So now we’ll have to go back”, said the tennis player. He mentioned his left foot which has been causing him pain since 2005 and even more for three weeks. The pain woke up at the Master 1000 in Rome. Rafael Nadal admits having played in extreme conditions this Roland-Garros 2022: “Out of respect for my opponents, I don’t want to say very clearly what happened. But I was able to play during these two weeks thanks to an injection in the nerves to numb the foot. I no longer had any sensation in my foot because my doctor was able to put an anesthetic in the nerves. It removes all sensation in my foot”he explained.
A planned operation
A back-up solution, according to him, because “at the same time there is a greater risk of spraining your ankle since you have less sensation”. Rafael Nadal will make a point with his doctors. “We talked a lot about several possibilities”, he indicated. The Spaniard is considering an operation, but not immediately. “I’m going to ask myself the question of whether I’m ready to do major surgery without being sure that I can be competitive again”, he confided before adding: “We will proceed step by step”. If for the moment he has no intention of retiring, Rafael Nadal still hopes to play Wimbledon if his state of health allows it, and affirmed to be “always positive”.