Rafael Nadal is not only considered one of tennis’ finest talents, but one of the greatest sportsmen of all time. While dominant on clay, winning a record 14 French Open titles, the Spanish icon was a true master on any surface, winning 22 Grand Slams throughout his illustrious career.
It’s the second-highest total of any male player, only behind Novak Djokovic, with Nadal widely considered a sporting legend. And in a new Netflix documentary, the Mallorca-born sensation has lifted the lid on what made him such a genius.
It has provided new insight, most notably the extent of a chronic foot injury that troubled Nadal throughout his career. On the sacrifice he made, Nadal said: “I’ve had to make decisions about my health, where you are on the borderline between right or wrong.
“But if I hadn’t explored all that, I probably would have had 10 fewer Grand Slams. I’m not saying one or two, I’m saying 10 or 12. This is the reality.”
It’s a miracle he even finished matches, let alone dominated them, with Nadal claiming he battled the mental side of the injury just as much as the physical problems. Speaking to the BBC, he added: “I had to stay over-positive, over-determined, always ready to try to find a solution to keep being competitive and find a way to be on court again.
“I went through, a couple of times in my career, a long process of injuries, but I think I was ready to accept that moment, to tolerate the frustration and to keep working with hope and passion. The key was the suffering was less than my passion and my happiness for what I was doing.”
He revealed it wasn’t just his foot that troubled him, with the 39-year-old saying his entire body ended up in agony by the end of his career. Nadal added: “Tennis became a race against time. Always having the doubt in my head of, ‘how long can I 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’. My knee was destroyed. The tendon basically had a hole in it. Having to play with an insole throughout my entire career threw the rest of my body out of whack. I have two small perforations in my intestines – small perforations that can come from too many painkillers.”