Passion for the game keeps me going, says ageless Spaniard
PARIS: Rafael Nadal's predicament in a nutshell - the spirit is willing, but the feet are protesting.
The Spaniard - owner of 14 French Open crowns and 22 Grand Slam titles - suffers from Mueller-Weiss syndrome, a degenerative condition that affects bones in the feet. The 36-year-old has needed injections (nerve blocks) on his left foot, two shots before each of his seven matches, along with anti-inflammatories to keep him running this past fortnight at Roland Garros where he extended his record of records.
Nadal, who is halfway to a calendar Slam, having won the Australian and French Opens in the same year for the first time in his career, will pay a visit to his doctor - looking for 'long-term' relief for his left foot.
TOWERING OVER ALL: Rafael Nadal during a photo call on the Alexandre III bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower on Monday
"I have been playing with injections on the nerves to sleep the foot, that's why I was able to play during these two weeks," the world No. 4 said of the nerve blocks that helped him compete this fortnight after he hobbled out of the draw in Rome. Nadal was fortunate to get away with numbing the pain on his foot as the option raised the possibility of a more serious injury.
"Everybody knows how much this tournament means to me, I wanted to keep trying and give myself a chance here," Nadal said, adding, "But it's obvious that I can't keep competing with the foot asleep."
The injections gave the 22-time major champion temporary relief, up to a few hours at a time, but Nadal wants a solution, even if it's only a temporary, long-term fix.
"I will have to take a Radiofrequency injection on the nerve, to burn the nerve and create the impact that I have now on the nerve for a long period of time," Nadal explained.
The Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) procedure, a minimally invasive technique, is a one-sitting treatment. It can hold for up to two years. In some cases, 12 months after the procedure possibly, the burnt nerve regrows. Someone like Nadal, for whom nerve blocks have been effective, the chances of the Radiofrequency Ablation working, is as high as 90 percent.
"If this works, I gonna keep going. If not, then gonna be another story," Nadal said. "I then have to ask myself if I'm ready to do a major (surgery) without being sure that things are going the proper way. A major surgery that don't guarantee me to be competitive again."
"I'm going to be at Wimbledon if my body is ready to be at Wimbledon," Nadal said, addressing the prospect of competing again in three weeks. "Wimbledon is not a tournament that I want to miss. I had a lot of success there. So, if you ask me if I will be in Wimbledon, I can't give you a clear answer. If I want to win Wimbledon, of course!" That's that then, at least for now, the retirement talk has been laid to rest.
Late on Saturday, about the time France's meteorological bureau issued orange alerts for storms, urging the population to be vigilant, the tennis world appeared to be caught in a whirl of a different nature. Was Sunday's outing Rafa Nadal's last dance on a rectangle?
1/10:14th French Open title win
<p>Rafael Nadal regained his aura of invincibility on clay on Sunday by brutally crushing Casper Ruud to lift the French Open trophy for an incredible 14th time and widen the gap at the top of the men's all-time list of Grand Slam winners. (AP Photo)</p>
2/10:Unsuccessful challengers
<p>Norwegian Ruud became the latest victim in a long line of challengers who have unsuccessfully tried to defeat the Spaniard in the Roland Garros final since Nadal won his maiden title on the red clay in 2005. (Getty Images)</p>
3/10:100% success rate
<p>There was a sense of deja vu as the Spaniard, who turned 36 on Friday, completed a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 thrashing on a balmy afternoon in Paris to maintain his 100% success rate in the championship round at the claycourt major. (Getty Images)</p>
4/10:Nadal lifts the Musketeers' Cup
<p>Despite all the trials and tribulations he suffered in the build-up, no one could prevent Nadal from lifting the Musketeers' Cup for a record-extending 14th time. (Getty Images)</p>
5/10:Calendar Grand Slam
<p>The win means Nadal is now halfway through the calendar Grand Slam for the first time in his career after also winning the year's opening major at the Australian Open. (Getty Images)</p>
6/10:Oldest Roland Garros men's singles champion
<p>Nadal passed fellow Spaniard Andres Gimeno as the oldest Roland Garros men's singles champion. The result once again demonstrated that even when he is less than 100% fit, he is still a mountain too steep to conquer on the red clay of Roland Garros. (Getty Images)</p>
7/10:22nd Grand Slam title
<p>The win also gave Nadal a record-extending 22nd Grand Slam title and put him two clear of world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Swiss Roger Federer in the men's race for the most major titles. (Getty Images)</p>
8/10:Nadal and Ruud
<p>Nadal and Ruud had never played a competitive match before Sunday, but they have hit together plenty of times at the Spaniard's academy in Mallorca and Ruud earlier said he has never won a practice set against his idol. That record remained unchanged on Sunday. (Getty Images)</p>
9/10:Blistering start
<p>Nadal, who is 13 years older than Ruud, made a blistering start as he raced to a 2-0 lead with a superb forehand passing shot securing him the first break of the match. (Reuters Photo)</p>
10/10:Top-spin forehand
<p>Nadal's vicious top-spin forehand soon found its range and he started applying pressure to Ruud's backhand to secure a break and canter to a 4-1 lead before securing the opening set. (AFP Photo)</p>It might've started with a Nadal press conference in the lead-up to his quarterfinal meeting with Novak Djokovic. "Every match I play here, I don't know if it gonna be my last," he said.
In his post-championship media interaction Nadal cleared the air. "As I said in the past, me, Roger, Novak, we achieved things that probably we never expected," he said, "What keeps me going is not this competition, it's the passion for the game and moments that stays inside me forever. To play in front of the best crowds in the world and the best stadiums. That drives me. It is not about a goal to win more titles. It's about a goal, the goal to give myself a chance to keep doing what I like to do," he argued.
