Nadal's secret pain: tennis legend played with discomfort for over a decade

The uncle of former world number one Rafael Nadal, Toni Nadal, has revealed that the legendary tennis star played tennis with pain from 2005 onwards. The 38-year-old is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 22 Grand Slam titles. Fourteen of those major titles came while playing at the Roland Garros which is why he is also known as the ‘King of Clay’.

Nadal has recently announced retirement from professional tennis in a video that was shared on the social media platform. The former world number one struggled with fitness concerns throughout the later stages of his career and missed six out of eight Grand Slams in the last two years. The legendary Spaniard returned to the court earlier this year after a gap of nearly 12 months, and while staying on the sidelines last year, he announced that he would retire from professional tennis at the end of the 2024 season.

Nadal’s uncle, Toni, was recently quoted in a report where he revealed that the 22-time Grand Slam winner has played the majority of his career with pain. He also stated Nadal could not finish a single training session without having painkillers since 2005.

“Rafael got used to playing with pain, but I told his father that if we had retired every time he had problems he could already take away five or six titles from the 'Grand Slam'. Since 2005, he has been practically unable to finish a training, unable to play a 'Grand Slam' game without taking painkillers. The problem he had is that he got used to playing with pain and saw how most of the time he came out strengthened. He thought that this time it would be the same and what happens is that now after the knee, it came to his hip.”