French Open champion Rafael Nadal said he will feature in this year’s Wimbledon if his chronic football injury subsides. The 22 Grand Slam single titles holder has been suffering from a chronic foot injury that forced him out of several major contests in 2021.
Though the 36-year-old expected to have retired because of the incident that needs urgent medical surgery, the Spaniard has played through 2022 using anaesthetic injections to suppress the pains and has won two majors.
Nadal’s accolades presently have surpassed world number 1 Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s Grand Slam singles titles record by two after he won the 2022 Australian Open and French Open at Court Philippe Chatrier.
But the Spaniard, who is eager to feature in the Wimbledon, has rejected any means of undergoing a process of playing through the support of anaesthetic injections. “Wimbledon is a priority, always has been a priority. If I’m able to play with antiinflammatories yes,” Nadal said told Sky Sports “To play with anaesthetic injections, I do not want to put myself in that position again.
It can happen once but no, it’s not the philosophy of life I want to follow. “Let’s see. I am always a positive guy and always expect things are going the right way. Let’s be confident, let’s be positive and let’s see what’s going on,” he added.
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Nadal disclose his next line of action that could enable him pilot his career to its prime. He continued: “It’s going to be a radio frequency injection on the nerve and trying to burn a little bit the nerve and create the impact that I have now on the nerve for a long period of time.
“That’s what we are going to try. If that works, I’m going to keep going. If that does not work, then it’s going to be another story. And then I am going to ask myself if I am ready to do a major thing without being sure that things are going the proper way, for example
“A major surgery that doesn’t guarantee me to be able to be competitive again and take a long time to be back [is a risk]. So let’s do it step by step, as I did all my tennis career,” he added.
Nadal missed almost the entire 2021 season, including the Wimbledon, Olympics and US Open due to a chronic foot injury but reignited his career in 2022 with a triumph at the Australian Open and victory over Norwegian Casper Ruud on Sunday to win his fourteenth French Open major.
