Destroyed Nadal: I can’t go on like this. He played with a dead leg, he couldn’t even walk in the hotel

Rafael Nadal dominated Roland Garros for the 14th time on Sunday, his record 22nd Grand Slam. But he sacrificed a lot for it, as his leg is almost in critical condition. He’s had to have it numbed for the match every time.

Nadal is the most successful tennis player in history. With 22 grand slams, he is ahead of Djokovic and Federer, who have 20.

The Spanish fighter suffers from a chronic leg condition called Müller-Weiss syndrome. This degenerative disease causes a deformity of one of the bones in the middle part of the foot and brings him tremendous pain.

“The worst moment of the tournament was after the first match against Moutet. I couldn’t walk when I got back to the hotel,” Nadal told FranceTV.

He played the whole tournament with a numb leg. “The only way to play was to put my leg to sleep. To numb the pain with anesthetic injections. The leg remains numb, you can’t feel it,” Nadal described at a press conference how he played the 2022 French Open.

“It’s clear that you can’t go on like this,” said “El toro”. Nadal doesn’t want to play under injections anymore, so he’s looking for an alternative. But he would also like to continue competing, so he wants to talk to the doctors when he returns home and find the best solution.

“I’m going to have radiofrequency injections into the nerve to try and burn it slightly. That might work for a while. If it works, I’ll continue. If not, it will be a different story,” Nadal added.

If it doesn’t work, the last resort is surgery. However, that would put the 36-year-old out of the game for at least six months and is not guaranteed to cure him 100%.

“I would have to discuss it with myself, with peace of mind, because it would be a life decision. I don’t know if it would be worth not playing for six months without any guarantee. I’m not ready for that decision right now,” he said of the possible surgery.

He also promised his fans that if his body is ready, he will perform at Wimbledon. Now it all depends on whether the radiofrequency injections work.

Source: MARCA