Despite his major foot problems, Spain’s tennis star Rafael Nadal wants to compete in the grass court classic at Wimbledon.
“My intention is to play at Wimbledon. The treatments and the training week give me hope that there is a chance. And I wouldn’t go there if I didn’t have the intention to play,” the record Grand Slam winner said at a press conference on his home island of Mallorca.
The third Grand Slam tournament of the year begins in London on 27 June, before which Nadal had already won the Australian and French Opens. On Monday, the 36-year-old wants to fly to London, play a show match at Hurlingham and train for a week to see “if it is possible”.
Just two days after his 14th French Open win, Nadal had undergone pulsed radiofrequency therapy in Barcelona for chronic pain in his left foot. The affected nerves of the foot were anaesthetised with this treatment and could no longer transmit the pain stimulus to the brain, it was said. Nadal has been suffering from Müller-Weiss syndrome, a rare and degenerative disease, for several years.
Nadal said he had injections for the condition before each of his seven matches in Paris. He also revealed that he had taken anti-inflammatory drugs throughout the tournament. But that could not be a permanent solution, he stressed. At the Wimbledon tournament (27 June to 10 July), Nadal definitely does not want to repeat the Paris procedure.
